SpaceX added more satellites into space over the weekend. This year, Elon Musk's space company reportedly launched O3b mPOWER communication satellites for its 84th mission.
SpaceX Launches SES O3b mPOWER Mission
On Sunday (Nov. 12), SpaceX launched the SES O3b mPOWER mission, which carried two communication satellites into medium Earth orbit (MEO). Falcon 9 rocket carried these satellites and took off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 4:08 p.m. EST (2108 GMT).
About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the first stage of the Falcon 9 returned to Earth and landed vertically on the company's drone ship. The ship, named "A Shortfall of Gravitas," was waiting in the Atlantic Ocean not far away; unlike other Falcon 9 launches, the rocket's upper stage would not be recovered.
The first of the two satellites was sent into medium Earth orbit (MEO), about 5,000 miles (8,000 km) above Earth, using the rocket's upper stage two hours after liftoff. The second satellite was launched seven minutes later.
Boeing built the two spacecraft on board, which will add to the O3b network of communication satellites that SES S.A. of Luxembourg operates. The six-satellite constellation is anticipated to be finished in late 2023 and offers high-speed connection to a range of clients in the public and commercial sectors.
Before this launch, the Falcon 9 booster had completed eight missions, five of which were used to expand Starlink, SpaceX's massive network of broadband internet satellites. At the moment, Starlink has over 5,000 operating satellites.
More About O3B mPOWER
O3B mPOWER is the first commercial MEO constellation worldwide. It is designed to be the next-generation MEO constellation and is expected to deliver the best performance from a satellite service. The company guarantees what it promises - industry-beating throughput, latency, availability, and flexibility.
There are four essential components of high-performance connection that only MEO can provide. High throughput per terminal, flexibility, increased network availability, and predicted low latency are all supported by O3b mPOWER. It is a set of assurances that LEO is unable to provide.
The company's constellation of O3b MEO satellites has provided excellent throughput, high network availability, and low latency since 2014. Building on its success, O3b mPOWER achieves industry firsts in performance, flexibility, and scale. O3b mPOWER has a constellation of 13 next-generation, software-based satellites, thousands of electrically generated possible beams, throughput scales from tens of Mbps to multiple Gbps, eight SES-managed gateways and customer-managed gateways in custom locations, and various terminals available in different sizes and form factors.
The first four O3b mPOWER satellites were launched last year and have reached their intended orbit and are completing in-orbit checks. These checks include system validation tests covering space and ground components.
With the fifth and sixth O3b mPOWER satellites being launched, the system is now complete with the six MEO satellites needed in their slots to provide high-performance network services that will enable high throughput, predictable low latency, unique flexibility, and service availability.
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