SpaceX has launched three O3b mPOWER telecommunications satellites, each weighing approximately 1,700 kilograms, into medium Earth orbit (MEO) in the Luxembourg-based SES constellation. This launch is significant because it is the 700th launch of the Falcon series rockets.
Image source: SpaceX
The satellites launched will complement the 10 O3b mPOWER satellites in orbit and complete the SES constellation, which the company said will “Purpose-engineered to deliver predictable low latency, superior throughput and unprecedented flexibility for industries where continuity is critical.”
The satellites were launched by a Falcon 9 rocket at 14:49 Eastern Time (21:49 Moscow time) on September 13 from the US Space Force launch site in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The satellite was placed into an orbit at an altitude of 8,000 kilometers in 14 minutes, 33.5 minutes after launch. Previously, SpaceX put the first 10 satellites of the constellation into orbit through six Falcon 9 launches, with the first launch taking place in December 2022.
Less than nine minutes after liftoff, Falcon 9’s first stage landed on SpaceX’s offshore autonomous platform A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. For this particular stage (serial number – B1080), this was the 29th flight.
This is also the 700th anniversary of the Falcon family of rockets, which debuted in March 2006 with the Falcon 1 rocket. The first Falcon rocket made a total of five flights, two of which were successful, before giving way to the workhorse Falcon 9 rocket in 2010. Falcon 9 rockets account for the vast majority of flights in the series; the only other member of the series still operating, the Falcon Heavy, has completed 13 launches to date.
The launch is SpaceX’s 107th orbital launch this year, 105 of which were carried out using Falcon 9 rockets and the other two were carried out using Falcon Heavy rockets. Also in 2026, SpaceX conducted two suborbital test flights of its Starship giant rocket and is preparing a third that may launch it into orbit.
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