Reuters reports, “Eutelsat, the world’s third-biggest satellite operator by revenue, launched 20 satellites for its communications network on Sunday, using Elon Musk’s SpaceX in its first move since the merger of two European companies last year. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off with Eutelsat satellites from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base at 0513 GMT. ‘This is the first OneWeb launch of the satellites since the merger,’ CEO Eva Berneke told Reuters in an interview. ‘We will be launching more satellites over the coming years.’” Full Story (Reuters)
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NASA’s Europa Clipper Launch (Launch at 1:06:40 mark)
(NASA; YouTube)
Bloomberg reports that SpaceX “successfully launched 40 satellites for competing communications company OneWeb on Thursday.” It’s the first of three “planned missions the unlikely collaborators are set to perform over the coming months despite their separate efforts to build megaconstellations that will beam broadband Internet coverage to Earth.” Full Story (Bloomberg)
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OneWeb 1 Mission, December 8, 2022
(SpaceX; YouTube)
Spaceflight Now reports that a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket “lifted off from Cape Canaveral Monday night with 40 more internet satellites for OneWeb, nudging the network closer to full operational capability.” The Falcon 9 booster “returned to Cape Canaveral for landing eight minutes later.” SpaceX delayed “the launch of a different Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California Monday night due to bad weather.” That mission was “supposed to launch just 35 minutes before the OneWeb mission from Cape Canaveral, but has now been rescheduled for liftoff Tuesday night.” The SpaceX launch team “working in a control center just outside the gate of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station began loading super-chilled, densified kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants into the Falcon 9 vehicle at T-minus 35 minutes.” Helium pressurant also “flowed into the rocket in the last half-hour of the countdown.” In the final “seven minutes before liftoff, the Falcon 9’s Merlin main engines were thermally conditioned for flight through a procedure known as ‘chilldown.’” The Falcon 9’s “guidance and range safety systems were also configured for launch.” Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
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SpaceX launches the OneWeb Launch 16 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, Monday, January 9 at 11:50 p.m. ET.
(SpaceX; YouTube)
The Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports SpaceX “is set for its second Space Coast launch of the year mission to send up more internet satellites for competitor OneWeb” on Monday after “a Sunday attempt was tabled so SpaceX could ‘complete prelaunch processing,’ the company posted on its Twitter account,” although the “vehicle and spacecraft are healthy.” The launch “was set to be the company’s 200th…since 2010, but may end up being the 201st with the delay as a Starlink launch is also on tap for Monday night, but from California,” and Space Launch Delta 45′s weather squadron “predicts better than 90% chance for good conditions” for the second attempt. Full Story (Orlando (FL) Sentinel)
