SpaceX launched a brand new Indonesian communications satellite tv for pc into orbit from Florida on Sunday (June 18) and capped the flight with a flawless rocket touchdown at sea.
A Falcon 9 rocket topped with the SATRIA-1 telecommunications satellite tv for pc lifted off from Cape Canaveral House Power Station in Florida, hovering into the early night sky at 6:21 p.m. EDT (2221 GMT) after a 15-minute delay on account of excessive winds.
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Shortly after liftoff, the Falcon 9’s first stage booster returned to Earth for a vertical landing on the SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which was be stationed within the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast.
The landing, which happened 8.5 minutes after liftoff, marked the twelfth launch and touchdown for this specific booster, based on a SpaceX mission description. Amongst these earlier efforts have been 4 Dragon missions to the Worldwide House Station for NASA, two of them crewed and two of them robotic resupply flights.
The Falcon 9’s higher stage, in the meantime, continued carrying SATRIA-1 to geosynchronous switch orbit, in the end deploying the satellite tv for pc there just below 37 minutes after liftoff.
SATRIA-1 (whose identify is brief for “Satellite tv for pc of the Republic of Indonesia”) will likely be operated for the Indonesian authorities by the Indonesian firm PSN.
The $550 million spacecraft “is envisioned to spice up connectivity inclusion within the nation, offering free web connection to 150,000 public services, together with faculties, regional authorities workplaces and well being services,” based on The Jakarta Submit.
“SATRIA-1 can have a throughput capability of 150 billion bits per second, thrice the capability of the 9 telecommunication satellites that Indonesia at present makes use of,” the outlet added.