When the countdown reached T-0 seconds on Saturday (December 1), SpaceX’s plan to launch four small communications satellites into high Earth orbit was cancelled.
one Falcon 9 The rocket carrying four “MicroGEO” satellites manufactured by Astranis Company of San Francisco was originally planned to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Midnight EST (0500 GMT). When the Falcon’s Merlin engines fired, an unspecified problem forced the mission to be aborted.
“Stop tonight’s Falcon 9 launch,” SpaceX said in an update posted on the X social media network. “The launch is now targeted for Sunday, December 22.”
“Scrubbing happened!” Astranis vice president Christian Keil wrote on X.
So far, one Astranis satellite has been put into orbit, which explains the name of the launch – “Atranis: From One to Many.”
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two out of four satellite The network, scheduled to come online on Saturday, will be used by Colorado-based company Anuvu to provide in-flight connectivity for passengers. Astranis said another satellite will serve Philippine customers and the fourth satellite, called UtilitySat, is expected to serve a variety of customers throughout its life.
“This is a huge milestone for Astranis,” Astranis CEO John Gedmark said in an emailed statement before the launch attempt. “We are evolving from one satellite to multiple satellites. This is the first time anyone has launched four satellites together like this.
“These are our most advanced satellites to date, with a range of improvements that will increase capacity and affordability,” he added. “We’re very excited to be able to serve our customers in a way they can’t get elsewhere. Dedicated broadband network.”
The Falcon 9 upper stage will deploy the four Astranis satellites into geostationary transfer orbit approximately 35 minutes after launch.
The foursome will then travel to geosynchronous orbit, a circular orbit 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) above Earth. At this altitude, the orbital speed matches the planet’s rotation rate, allowing the spacecraft to continuously “hover” over the same area of the Earth.
Meanwhile, the first stage of Falcon 9 is to return to Earth about 8.5 minutes after launch and land on the “A Shortfall of Gravitas” drone. According to one official, this will be the 17th flight of this particular booster SpaceX mission statement.