Update 6:14 p.m. EST (2300 UTC): SpaceX landed the Falcon 9 first stage booster on its droneship.
SpaceX completed its third Falcon 9 launch in less than 24 hours with a launch for one of its oldest customers: Luxembourg-based communications company, SES.
Liftoff of the O3b mPOWER 7 and 8 satellites from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center happened near sunset at 5:26 p.m. EST (2226 UTC), which was the close of a nearly 1.5-hour-long launch window. It was be the 90th orbital launch from the Florida spaceport comprising of Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Heading into the launch opportunity, the 45th Weather Squadron forecast so-so conditions at liftoff. Its outlook issued Monday suggested a 55 percent chance of favorable weather at launch with concerns for both cumulus clouds and a violation of the surface electric fields rule.
“Strong high pressure moving off the coast of New England today will settle into the Central Atlantic through mid-week, with the axis to the north of the Spaceport. This feature will block the approaching easterly wave as it moves west, pushing it into the state on Tuesday,” meteorologists wrote. “The arrival of this trough brings deeper moisture and instability, with a higher coverage of onshore moving showers, and occasional lightning is not out of the question.
“Most models show coverage peaking in the late afternoon and evening, potentially overlapping at least the latter part of the primary launch window Tuesday afternoon.”
The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1090, launched for its first mission. It landed on the droneship, ‘Just Read the Instructions,’ about 8.5 minutes after liftoff.
Overcoming power issues
SES began work on the O3b mPOWER satellites in partnership with manufacturer, Boeing, in 2017 when it ordered the construction of seven initial medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites. It began signing up customers for the on orbit broadband service in 2020 with the likes of Carnival Corporation for its cruise ships and Orange, which supports internet service in Africa.
The first two O3b mPOWER satellites were launched in 2022 and were followed by two more pairs of satellites in 2023. SES began providing service through the satellites in spring 2024.
“We are very excited that O3b mPOWER is now ready to serve our customers around the world. Over the last few years, our SES team, along with our technology partners across space and ground segments, have worked tirelessly to bring our O3b mPOWER system online,” said Adel Al-Saleh, CEO of SES, in an April 2024 statement. “I’m proud to say that all the core infrastructure is deployed, tested and ready on a global basis.”
However the first O3b mPOWER satellites ran into electrical problems. Ahead of the launch of the third pair of satellites in November, SES told investors that it documented “an increased number of sporadic power module switch offs” within satellites 1-4, which resulted in “a few non-recoverable events.
“After a comprehensive investigation where the causes were identified by Boeing and SES, mitigations for these events will be put in place for the initial satellites that include updated operational procedures and leveraging elements of the constellation in a resilient configuration, which will enable the expected high-performance services to customers,” SES wrote in a YTD 2023 financial statement. “With the operations of this initial O3b mPOWER constellation, in combination with the existing O3b MEO constellation, SES expects it can support its currently signed O3b mPOWER customers, as well as future customers and market growth.”
The power issues were determined to cause those satellites to experience operational life that “will be significantly lower than previously expected.” A plan was developed to replace the faulty power modules on the remaining satellites left on the contract at the time (7-11) and to add two additional satellites to the constellation.
SES currently plans to deploy 13 O3b mPOWER satellites, with satellites 9-11 set to launch in 2025 and the final pair in 2026.
“The total amount of remaining U.S. C-band clearing cost reimbursements expected to be received in future is now approximately $150 million and SES is continuing to engage with insurers regarding the claim of $472 million relating to O3b mPOWER satellites 1-4,” SES wrote in a statement covering YTD and Q3 2024 financial results.
The company said that as of April 2024, it said its second-generation MEO constellation was supporting “more than 15 million end users”.
The satellites orbit approximately 8,000 km (4,971 mi) above the Earth’s surface at an inclination of 70 degrees.
