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85-434: SES-8 is a geostationary Communications satellite operated by SES SES-8 was successfully launched on SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 on 3 December 2013, 22:41:00 UTC . It was the first flight of any SpaceX launch vehicle to a supersynchronous transfer orbit, an orbit with a somewhat larger apogee than the more usual geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) typically utilised for communication satellites. The SES-8 satellite

170-545: A West Coast launch site located at Vandenberg Space Force Base Space Launch Complex 4 in order to deliver satellites to polar or Sun-synchronous orbits with Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches. SpaceX broke ground at Vandenberg in July 2011. A 2011 estimate showed that the project was expected to cost between $ 20 and $ 30 million for the first 24 months of construction and operation; thereafter, operational costs were expected to be $ 5–10 million per year. The sixth flight of

255-483: A delta-v of approximately 50 m/s per year. A second effect to be taken into account is the longitudinal drift, caused by the asymmetry of the Earth – the equator is slightly elliptical ( equatorial eccentricity ). There are two stable equilibrium points sometimes called "gravitational wells" (at 75.3°E and 108°W) and two corresponding unstable points (at 165.3°E and 14.7°W). Any geostationary object placed between

340-427: A geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), an elliptical orbit with an apogee at GEO height and a low perigee . On-board satellite propulsion is then used to raise the perigee, circularise and reach GEO. Satellites in geostationary orbit must all occupy a single ring above the equator . The requirement to space these satellites apart, to avoid harmful radio-frequency interference during operations, means that there are

425-452: A temporary orbit , and placed in a slot above a particular point on the Earth's surface. The orbit requires some stationkeeping to keep its position, and modern retired satellites are placed in a higher graveyard orbit to avoid collisions. In 1929, Herman Potočnik described both geosynchronous orbits in general and the special case of the geostationary Earth orbit in particular as useful orbits for space stations . The first appearance of

510-537: A geostationary orbit in popular literature was in October 1942, in the first Venus Equilateral story by George O. Smith , but Smith did not go into details. British science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke popularised and expanded the concept in a 1945 paper entitled Extra-Terrestrial Relays – Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage? , published in Wireless World magazine. Clarke acknowledged

595-415: A geostationary orbit in particular, it ensures that it holds the same longitude over time. This orbital period, T , is directly related to the semi-major axis of the orbit through the formula: where: The eccentricity is zero, which produces a circular orbit . This ensures that the satellite does not move closer or further away from the Earth, which would cause it to track backwards and forwards across

680-525: A geostationary orbit was Syncom 3 , which was launched by a Delta D rocket in 1964. With its increased bandwidth, this satellite was able to transmit live coverage of the Summer Olympics from Japan to America. Geostationary orbits have been in common use ever since, in particular for satellite television. Today there are hundreds of geostationary satellites providing remote sensing and communications. Although most populated land locations on

765-615: A hot-fire test. The pad was repaired and used for the first time since the explosion in the SpaceX CRS-13 mission in December 2017. In December 2013, NASA and SpaceX were in negotiations for SpaceX to lease Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A , after SpaceX was selected in a multi-company bid process, following NASA's decision in early 2013 to lease the unused complex as part of a bid to reduce annual operation and maintenance costs of unused government facilities. The SpaceX bid

850-399: A known position) and providing an additional reference signal. This improves position accuracy from approximately 5m to 1m or less. Past and current navigation systems that use geostationary satellites include: Geostationary satellites are launched to the east into a prograde orbit that matches the rotation rate of the equator. The smallest inclination that a satellite can be launched into

935-408: A large area of the earth's surface, extending 81° away in latitude and 77° in longitude. They appear stationary in the sky, which eliminates the need for ground stations to have movable antennas. This means that Earth-based observers can erect small, cheap and stationary antennas that are always directed at the desired satellite. However, latency becomes significant as it takes about 240 ms for

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1020-482: A leased test facility at Spaceport America in southern New Mexico . All SpaceX rocket engines are tested on rocket test stands , and low-altitude VTVL flight testing of the Falcon 9 Grasshopper v1.0 test vehicle are done at McGregor. High-altitude , high-velocity flight testing of Grasshopper v1.1 were planned to be done at Spaceport America. In addition to atmospheric flight testing, and rocket engine testing ,

1105-516: A limited number of orbital slots available, and thus only a limited number of satellites can be operated in geostationary orbit. This has led to conflict between different countries wishing access to the same orbital slots (countries near the same longitude but differing latitudes ) and radio frequencies . These disputes are addressed through the International Telecommunication Union 's allocation mechanism under

1190-481: A longer rocket with 60% more thrust than the Falcon 9 v1.0 vehicle, and the first launch of the larger v1.1 rocket using the rebuilt erector structure at SpaceX' Cape Canaveral SLC-40 . As a result, a number of systems on the launch vehicle was flown for only the second time, while several parts of the ground infrastructure at Cape Canaveral were used in a launch for the first time. These include: In order to maximize

1275-544: A lot of SpaceX launch sites in order to meet the future demand that we anticipate." As of June 2016 , SpaceX discussed preliminary plans to launch an average of 90 rockets per year after 2019. SpaceX has indicated that, depending on market demand , it may need another commercial launch site in addition to the Texas location. In 2016, SpaceX signed a five-year lease to use a 53,000 square foot (4,900 m ) former Spacehab building at Port Canaveral . A new building nearby

1360-490: A multi-user arrangement for LC-39A. In December 2013, the GAO denied the protest and sided with NASA, which argued that the solicitation contains no preference on the use of the facility as multi-use or single-use. "The [solicitation] document merely asks bidders to explain their reasons for selecting one approach instead of the other and how they would manage the facility." SpaceX began architectural and engineering design work on

1445-494: A niche for each of the four orbital facilities currently in use or under construction, and that they have sufficient launch business to fill each pad, particularly so by the end of the decade if SpaceX business remains strong. In 2007, the US Air Force leased Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 to SpaceX to launch the Falcon 9 rocket. During April 2008, construction started on the ground facilities necessary to support

1530-557: A potential site for several Falcon 9 launches, the first planned for as early as 2012. The "Falcon 9 Overview" document also offered Kwajalein as a launch option in 2010. Since then, the FAA Environmental Impact Report of May 2014 lists this site as non-operational and returned to its original state, to no longer be used, "Five Falcon 1 launches occurred at Omelek Island, Kwajalein Atoll. After these launches of

1615-425: A proposal for SpaceX to add 100 acres to their existing footprint at KSC was approved pending the signing of a lease. The SpaceX Starship was initially deemed too large to launch from any existing SpaceX facility. In 2014, SpaceX indicated that the historic Florida launchpad LC-39A would not be large enough, and they planned to build a new site to accommodate the 9-meter-diameter (30 ft) rocket. The Starship

1700-406: A signal to pass from a ground based transmitter on the equator to the satellite and back again. This delay presents problems for latency-sensitive applications such as voice communication, so geostationary communication satellites are primarily used for unidirectional entertainment and applications where low latency alternatives are not available. Geostationary satellites are directly overhead at

1785-424: A stop at McGregor to have their dangerous hypergolic propellant fuels removed, before the capsules continue on to Hawthorne for refurbishment. SpaceX calls the facility the most advanced and active rocket engine test facility in the world, and said that as of 2024 , over 7,000 tests had been conducted at the facility since it opened, with seven engine test fires on a typical day. Despite its low-profile compared to

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1870-562: A typical day. In July 2021, SpaceX announced plans to build a second production facility for Raptor engines at the McGregor facility. The new facility is expected to produce 800 to 1,000 rocket engines per year, approximately 2 to 4 each day, significantly expanding SpaceX's production capacity. As part of the SpaceX reusable launch system development program, SpaceX announced in May 2013 that

1955-416: A week. Since then, the number of test stands has increased to meet the growing demands of SpaceX's production. By March 2015, the facility operated 12 test stands and had run over 4,000 Merlin engine tests, including some 50 firings of the integrated nine-engine first stage. In August 2016, testing began on the new methane-fueled Raptor rocket engine. As of 2024, the facility sees seven engine test fires on

2040-417: Is a rocket engine test facility. Every rocket engine and thruster manufactured by SpaceX must pass through McGregor for rigorous final testing, ensuring their reliability and performance before being used on flight missions. The facility also tests various components and engines during the research and development process. In addition to engine testing, after splashdown and recovery, Dragon spacecraft make

2125-594: Is also planned, and these facilities would be used to refurbish rockets. In addition, SpaceX uses a suborbital test facility, the SpaceX Rocket Development and Test Facility in McGregor, Texas . A high-altitude suborbital test facility was under construction in New Mexico , but was abandoned following the switch to flight tests on commercial missions . SpaceX has indicated that they see

2210-745: Is built on the STAR-2.4 satellite bus by Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC). It is the sixth satellite of that model to be built for SES. The communications satellite is initially co-located at 95° East with NSS-6 in order to provide communications bandwidth growth capacity in the Asia-Pacific region, specifically aimed at high-growth markets in South Asia and Indo-China , "as well as provide expansion capacity for satellite television (direct-to-home - DTH), Very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) and government applications". The launch of SES-8

2295-615: Is looking increasingly likely," waiting for final regulatory approvals. The FAA released the draft Environmental Impact Statement in April 2013, and "found that 'no impacts would occur' that would force the Federal Aviation Administration to deny SpaceX a permit for rocket operations near Brownsville." SpaceX originally intended to launch their first launch vehicle, the Falcon 1 , from Space Launch Complex 3 West (SLC-3W) at Vandenberg Space Force Base . SLC-3W

2380-434: Is projected to be powered by 28 Raptor liquid oxygen / liquid methane engines producing approximately 72 MN (16,000,000 lb f ) of thrust at liftoff. In his September 2016 presentation, Elon Musk stated that the large launch vehicle would indeed be launched from LC-39A. However, in 2018 SpaceX instead opted to build their South Texas Launch Site for exclusive use by Starship. SpaceX currently operates

2465-452: Is that of the launch site's latitude, so launching the satellite from close to the equator limits the amount of inclination change needed later. Additionally, launching from close to the equator allows the speed of the Earth's rotation to give the satellite a boost. A launch site should have water or deserts to the east, so any failed rockets do not fall on a populated area. Most launch vehicles place geostationary satellites directly into

2550-403: Is the gravitational constant , (6.674 28 ± 0.000 67 ) × 10  m kg s . The magnitude of the acceleration, a , of a body moving in a circle is given by: where v is the magnitude of the velocity (i.e. the speed) of the satellite. From Newton's second law of motion , the centripetal force F c is given by: As F c = F g , so that Replacing v with the equation for

2635-781: Is typically 70°, and in some cases less. Geostationary satellite imagery has been used for tracking volcanic ash , measuring cloud top temperatures and water vapour, oceanography , measuring land temperature and vegetation coverage, facilitating cyclone path prediction, and providing real time cloud coverage and other tracking data. Some information has been incorporated into meteorological prediction models , but due to their wide field of view, full-time monitoring and lower resolution, geostationary weather satellite images are primarily used for short-term and real-time forecasting. Geostationary satellites can be used to augment GNSS systems by relaying clock , ephemeris and ionospheric error corrections (calculated from ground stations of

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2720-408: Is used to provide visible and infrared images of Earth's surface and atmosphere for weather observation, oceanography , and atmospheric tracking. As of 2019 there are 19 satellites in either operation or stand-by. These satellite systems include: These satellites typically capture images in the visual and infrared spectrum with a spatial resolution between 0.5 and 4 square kilometres. The coverage

2805-481: The Radio Regulations . In the 1976 Bogota Declaration , eight countries located on the Earth's equator claimed sovereignty over the geostationary orbits above their territory, but the claims gained no international recognition. A statite is a hypothetical satellite that uses radiation pressure from the sun against a solar sail to modify its orbit. It would hold its location over the dark side of

2890-558: The Texas Legislature in early 2013 that would enable temporary closings of State beaches during launches, limit liability for noise and some other specific commercial spaceflight risks, while the legislature also considered a package of incentives to encourage SpaceX to locate at the Brownsville, Texas location. The Texas incentive package and beach closing legislation is in place. In October 2013, CEO Musk said that "Texas

2975-456: The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) over what it said was "a plan by NASA to award an exclusive commercial lease to SpaceX for use of mothballed space shuttle launch LC-39A." NASA planned to complete the bid award and have the pad transferred by October 1, 2013, but the protest delayed a decision until after the GAO resolved the protest. Following the eruption of the controversy, on September 21, SpaceX said that they were willing to support

3060-417: The atmosphere of Earth . Both stages of the Falcon 9 arrived at Cape Canaveral for processing before 2 October 2013, after both had trouble-free test firings at the SpaceX Rocket Development and Test Facility at McGregor, Texas . A launch attempt on 25 November 2013, with a planned liftoff at 22:37:00 UTC was scrubbed following a reported off-nominal condition in the liquid oxygen tank and supply lines of

3145-430: The centripetal force required to maintain the orbit ( F c ) is equal to the gravitational force acting on the satellite ( F g ): From Isaac Newton 's universal law of gravitation , where F g is the gravitational force acting between two objects, M E is the mass of the Earth, 5.9736 × 10  kg , m s is the mass of the satellite, r is the distance between the centers of their masses , and G

3230-451: The direction of Earth's rotation . An object in such an orbit has an orbital period equal to Earth's rotational period, one sidereal day , and so to ground observers it appears motionless, in a fixed position in the sky. The concept of a geostationary orbit was popularised by the science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke in the 1940s as a way to revolutionise telecommunications, and the first satellite to be placed in this kind of orbit

3315-533: The speed of an object moving around a circle produces: where T is the orbital period (i.e. one sidereal day), and is equal to 86 164 .090 54  s . This gives an equation for r : The product GM E is known with much greater precision than either factor alone; it is known as the geocentric gravitational constant μ = 398 600 .4418 ± 0.0008 km s . Hence SpaceX launch facilities COO Gwynne Shotwell stated in 2014 that "we are expanding in all of our locations" and "you will end up seeing

3400-424: The Earth at a latitude of approximately 30 degrees. A statite is stationary relative to the Earth and Sun system rather than compared to surface of the Earth, and could ease congestion in the geostationary ring. Geostationary satellites require some station keeping to keep their position, and once they run out of thruster fuel they are generally retired. The transponders and other onboard systems often outlive

3485-532: The Falcon 1, the site was no longer needed and SpaceX closed the site and returned the property to pre-launch conditions". All Falcon 1 launches took place at this location, five launches from 2006 to 2009. SpaceX abandoned Omelek when Falcon 1 was retired, due to the expense of logistics. SpaceX has two rocket test facilities for vertical takeoff, vertical landing rockets: the SpaceX Rocket Development and Test Facility in McGregor, Texas and

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3570-931: The Falcon 9 launch vehicle launched in September 2013, which was the maiden flight of Falcon 9 v1.1. The site was used for a second time in January 2016 for the Jason-3 launch (which was the last flight of Falcon 9 v1.1) and for a third time in January 2017 for the first of the Iridium Next launches. On April 24, 2023, the United States Space Force announced that it was leasing Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 6 (SLC-6) to SpaceX for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches. SpaceX expects to begin Falcon 9 launches from SLC-6 in 2025 and Falcon Heavy launches in 2026. Since then, SpaceX has started reconfiguring

3655-488: The Kennedy Space Center (KSC) LC-39A launch pad in May 2020. In April 2018, SpaceX completed a draft environmental assessment for a new facility "that would include a booster processing hangar and launch control center on 67 acres (27 ha) of KSC property" to support a faster flight rate of "Falcon rockets, including processing of landed booster stages and recovered payload fairings for reuse." In 2024,

3740-553: The McGregor facility is also used for post-flight disassembly and defueling of the SpaceX Dragon following orbital missions. Both flight test facilities are principally involved in developing and testing various elements of the SpaceX reusable launch system development program , with a goal to making future SpaceX launch systems fully and rapidly reusable . SpaceX's Rocket Development and Test Facility in McGregor, Texas

3825-400: The absence of servicing missions from the Earth or a renewable propulsion method, the consumption of thruster propellant for station-keeping places a limitation on the lifetime of the satellite. Hall-effect thrusters , which are currently in use, have the potential to prolong the service life of a satellite by providing high-efficiency electric propulsion . For circular orbits around a body,

3910-477: The company's other facilities, is a critical part of SpaceX's operations, and company president and COO Gwynne Shotwell maintains her primary office in McGregor. Leased by SpaceX in 2003, the McGregor facility was originally the site of the Bluebonnet Ordnance Plant during World War II, then was used as a testing facilities for Beal Aerospace . In its early days, SpaceX reused many of

3995-469: The complex such that the launchpad can interface with multiple vehicles , and costs of pad operational expenses could be shared over the long term. One potential shared user in the Blue Origin notional plan was with United Launch Alliance . In September 2013—prior to completion of the bid period, and prior to any public announcement by NASA of the results of the process—Blue Origin filed a protest with

4080-458: The concept was seen as impractical, so Hughes often withheld funds and support. By 1961, Rosen and his team had produced a cylindrical prototype with a diameter of 76 centimetres (30 in), height of 38 centimetres (15 in), weighing 11.3 kilograms (25 lb), light and small enough to be placed into orbit. It was spin stabilised with a dipole antenna producing a pancake shaped beam. In August 1961, they were contracted to begin building

4165-541: The connection in his introduction to The Complete Venus Equilateral . The orbit, which Clarke first described as useful for broadcast and relay communications satellites, is sometimes called the Clarke orbit. Similarly, the collection of artificial satellites in this orbit is known as the Clarke Belt. In technical terminology the orbit is referred to as either a geostationary or geosynchronous equatorial orbit, with

4250-489: The country for a new private launch facility for orbital flights, including Alaska , California , Florida , Texas , Virginia , Georgia , and Puerto Rico . One of the proposed locations for the new commercial-mission-only spaceport was south Texas, which was revealed in April 2012, via preliminary regulatory documentation. The FAA 's Office of Commercial Space Transportation began a multi-year process to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement and public hearings on

4335-659: The equator and appear lower in the sky to an observer nearer the poles. As the observer's latitude increases, communication becomes more difficult due to factors such as atmospheric refraction , Earth's thermal emission , line-of-sight obstructions, and signal reflections from the ground or nearby structures. At latitudes above about 81°, geostationary satellites are below the horizon and cannot be seen at all. Because of this, some Russian communication satellites have used elliptical Molniya and Tundra orbits, which have excellent visibility at high latitudes. A worldwide network of operational geostationary meteorological satellites

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4420-474: The equilibrium points would (without any action) be slowly accelerated towards the stable equilibrium position, causing a periodic longitude variation. The correction of this effect requires station-keeping maneuvers with a maximal delta-v of about 2 m/s per year, depending on the desired longitude. Solar wind and radiation pressure also exert small forces on satellites: over time, these cause them to slowly drift away from their prescribed orbits. In

4505-408: The facility for launch testing of a VTVL test rocket, known as Grasshopper . A half-acre concrete launch facility was constructed to support the test flight program, which included eight flights of Grasshopper and five flights of its successor, " F9R Dev1 ." The flight test campagn ended in 2014. By October 2012, the McGregor facility operated seven test stands, running 18 hours a day, six days

4590-553: The first flight of F9R Dev2 at Spaceport America would not occur until the first half of 2015. On 19 February 2015, SpaceX announced that the F9R Dev2 would be discontinued indicating that ocean tests using operational Falcon 9 rockets were sufficiently successful that it was no longer necessary. Instead the New Mexico site will be used for testing the returned first stages. During April 2015, SpaceX performed tanking tests on

4675-580: The first-stage booster that could not be resolved within the approximately one-hour launch window. A launch date of 28 November 2013 was announced, three days later, being the next opportunity for the launch site on Earth to be in alignment to achieve the target orbit. Geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit , also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit ( GEO ), is a circular geosynchronous orbit 35,786 km (22,236 mi) in altitude above Earth's equator , 42,164 km (26,199 mi) in radius from Earth's center, and following

4760-432: The follow-up to Grasshopper, a high-altitude, vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) suborbital technology demonstrator would be tested at Spaceport America near Las Cruces, New Mexico . SpaceX signed a three-year lease for land and facilities at the recently operational spaceport . As of May 2013 , SpaceX indicated that they did not yet know how many jobs would move from McGregor, Texas to New Mexico to support

4845-553: The following properties: An inclination of zero ensures that the orbit remains over the equator at all times, making it stationary with respect to latitude from the point of view of a ground observer (and in the Earth-centered Earth-fixed reference frame). The orbital period is equal to exactly one sidereal day. This means that the satellite will return to the same point above the Earth's surface every (sidereal) day, regardless of other orbital properties. For

4930-523: The ground. All geostationary satellites have to be located on this ring. A combination of lunar gravity, solar gravity, and the flattening of the Earth at its poles causes a precession motion of the orbital plane of any geostationary object, with an orbital period of about 53 years and an initial inclination gradient of about 0.85° per year, achieving a maximal inclination of 15° after 26.5 years. To correct for this perturbation , regular orbital stationkeeping maneuvers are necessary, amounting to

5015-484: The launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Renovations included installation of new liquid oxygen and kerosene tanks and construction of a hangar for rocket and payload preparation. The first Falcon 9 rocket arrived at SLC-40 in late 2008, and was first erected on January 10, 2009. It successfully reached orbit on its maiden launch on June 4, 2010, carrying a dummy payload qualification unit . SpaceX modified

5100-517: The launch pad ( Apollo Program and the Space Shuttle )—plus the installation of all new instrumentation and control systems, with substantial new plumbing for a variety of rocket liquids and gasses. The Falcon rockets will be transported from the HIF to the launch pad aboard a Transporter Erector (TE) which will ride on rails up the former crawlerway path. In February 2016, it was reported that

5185-403: The launch pad in 2013 in order to support launches of the Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle, a 60 percent heavier rocket with 60 percent more thrust on realigned engines and 60 percent longer fuel tank than the v1.0 version of the Falcon 9, requiring a modified transporter/erector. In September 2016, the pad was damaged when a Falcon 9 rocket exploded during liquid oxygen loading in preparation for

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5270-519: The launch pad. Until 2019, SpaceX was building a new spaceport at Boca Chica Village near Brownsville, Texas for their private use, with an emphasis on commercial space transport work. The site is to be optimized for launches of commercial telecommunication satellites that would be launched to the east, across the Gulf of Mexico into geostationary transfer orbits . During 2011–2014, SpaceX considered as many as seven potential locations around

5355-520: The lease payments would begin at that time. By May 2014, SpaceX expended more than US$ 2 million on construction of the New Mexico facility, and is using more than 20 local firms to work on the project. Work items have included modifying the Range Operations Plan as well as a variety of fire-prevention measures. While in July 2014 the first test flight was still expected to occur sometime in 2014, reports in October 2014 indicated that

5440-416: The leftover facilities from the previous occupants of the site to test its first Merlin engines, but over time it has undergone significant expansion and improvements. SpaceX has purchased adjacent farmland, increasing the facility's size from 256 acres (104 ha), to over 600 acres (240 ha) by April 2011, and to 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) by March 2015. In 2011, SpaceX announced plans to upgrade

5525-472: The new launch site, which would be located in Cameron County, Texas . The site was to initially support up to 12 commercial launches per year, including two Falcon Heavy launches. As early as March 2013, Texas became the leading candidate for the location of the new SpaceX commercial launch facility, although Florida, Georgia and other locations remained in the running. Legislation was introduced in

5610-463: The pad modifications in 2013, and signed the contractual documents to lease the pad for 20 years from NASA in April 2014. SpaceX is building a large Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) just outside the perimeter of the existing launch pad in order to "house the Falcon [rockets] and associated hardware and payloads during processing." This is a marked difference from the vertical integration facility used by previous US government rockets that used

5695-483: The pad was completed and activated indicating it is ready for launches of Falcon 9 Full Thrust. The first SpaceX launch from LC-39A occurred in February 2017, followed by a successful first-stage landing at Landing Zone 1 . Further work was needed to support Falcon Heavy and crewed launches took over 60 days and occurred after Cape Canaveral LC-40 reopened. Demo-2 , SpaceX's first crewed space mission launched from

5780-476: The planet now have terrestrial communications facilities ( microwave , fiber-optic ), with telephone access covering 96% of the population and internet access 90%, some rural and remote areas in developed countries are still reliant on satellite communications. Most commercial communications satellites , broadcast satellites and SBAS satellites operate in geostationary orbits. Geostationary communication satellites are useful because they are visible from

5865-407: The propellant available for the launch of SES-8 into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), SpaceX did not attempt a controlled descent test of the first-stage booster as they did on the previous Falcon 9 v1.1 flight in September 2013. In the previous launch of the Falcon 9 v1.1 — the first launch of the much larger version of the rocket with new Merlin 1D engines — on 29 September 2013, SpaceX

5950-640: The real satellite. They lost Syncom 1 to electronics failure, but Syncom 2 was successfully placed into a geosynchronous orbit in 1963. Although its inclined orbit still required moving antennas, it was able to relay TV transmissions, and allowed for US President John F. Kennedy in Washington D.C., to phone Nigerian prime minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa aboard the USNS Kingsport docked in Lagos on August 23, 1963. The first satellite placed in

6035-524: The same plane, altitude and speed; however, the presence of satellites in eccentric orbits allows for collisions at up to 4 km/s. Although a collision is comparatively unlikely, GEO satellites have a limited ability to avoid any debris. At geosynchronous altitude, objects less than 10 cm in diameter cannot be seen from the Earth, making it difficult to assess their prevalence. Despite efforts to reduce risk, spacecraft collisions have occurred. The European Space Agency telecom satellite Olympus-1

6120-505: The second phase of VTVL Grasshopper testing. In 2013, SpaceX constructed a 30-by-30-meter (98 ft × 98 ft) pad at Spaceport America, 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) southwest of the spaceport's main campus, and will lease the pad for US$ 6,600 per month plus US$ 25,000 per Grasshopper flight. The spaceport administrator expected SpaceX to be operational at the Spaceport between October 2013 and February 2014, and anticipated that

6205-405: The sky. A geostationary orbit can be achieved only at an altitude very close to 35,786 kilometres (22,236 miles) and directly above the equator. This equates to an orbital speed of 3.07 kilometres per second (1.91 miles per second) and an orbital period of 1,436 minutes, one sidereal day . This ensures that the satellite will match the Earth's rotational period and has a stationary footprint on

6290-492: The terms used somewhat interchangeably. The first geostationary satellite was designed by Harold Rosen while he was working at Hughes Aircraft in 1959. Inspired by Sputnik 1 , he wanted to use a geostationary satellite to globalise communications. Telecommunications between the US and Europe was then possible between just 136 people at a time, and reliant on high frequency radios and an undersea cable . Conventional wisdom at

6375-485: The thruster fuel and by allowing the satellite to move naturally into an inclined geosynchronous orbit some satellites can remain in use, or else be elevated to a graveyard orbit . This process is becoming increasingly regulated and satellites must have a 90% chance of moving over 200 km above the geostationary belt at end of life. Space debris at geostationary orbits typically has a lower collision speed than at low Earth orbit (LEO) since all GEO satellites orbit in

6460-501: The time was that it would require too much rocket power to place a satellite in a geostationary orbit and it would not survive long enough to justify the expense, so early efforts were put towards constellations of satellites in low or medium Earth orbit. The first of these were the passive Echo balloon satellites in 1960, followed by Telstar 1 in 1962. Although these projects had difficulties with signal strength and tracking, issues that could be solved using geostationary orbits,

6545-491: The upper stage was required, and was completed successfully, during the SES-8 mission in order to place the SES-8 telecommunications satellite into the highly elliptical supersynchronous orbit for satellite operator SES to effect a plane change and orbit circularisation . The Falcon 9 upper stage used to launch SES-8 was left in a decaying elliptical low Earth orbit which, by September 2014, had decayed and re-entered

6630-399: Was for exclusive use of the launch complex to support their future crewed missions , but SpaceX said in September 2013 that they are also willing to support a multi-user arrangement for LC-39A, and they reiterated that position in December 2013. A competing bid for commercial use of the launch complex was submitted by Jeff Bezos ' Blue Origin , who bid for a shared non-exclusive use of

6715-462: Was launched from Omelek Island on 28 September 2008, followed by another Falcon 1 launch on 13 July 2009, placing RazakSAT into orbit. SpaceX originally planned to upgrade the Omelek launch site for use by the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, but later cancelled their plans to do so, and have since disassembled the entire installation. In December 2010, the SpaceX launch manifest listed Omelek (Kwajalein) as

6800-494: Was launched in 1963. Communications satellites are often placed in a geostationary orbit so that Earth-based satellite antennas do not have to rotate to track them but can be pointed permanently at the position in the sky where the satellites are located. Weather satellites are also placed in this orbit for real-time monitoring and data collection, and navigation satellites to provide a known calibration point and enhance GPS accuracy. Geostationary satellites are launched via

6885-420: Was modified by SpaceX to support the Falcon 1, and the Falcon 1 was erected on the pad in 2005. Problems arose when SpaceX was unable to obtain sufficient launch window availability because the pad would overfly other Air Force pads that were frequently left occupied for weeks or months at a time, thus severely restricting SpaceX launches. Ultimately, this launch pad was never used for orbital launch, although it

6970-499: Was struck by a meteoroid on August 11, 1993, and eventually moved to a graveyard orbit , and in 2006 the Russian Express-AM11 communications satellite was struck by an unknown object and rendered inoperable, although its engineers had enough contact time with the satellite to send it into a graveyard orbit. In 2017, both AMC-9 and Telkom-1 broke apart from an unknown cause. A typical geostationary orbit has

7055-401: Was the seventh launch of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle , and the second launch of the Falcon 9 v1.1 . SES paid a discounted price — "well under US$ 60 million" — for the launch since it was the inaugural geostationary launch on the Falcon 9. When originally contracted, in 2011 the putative launch date was early 2013. The launch was the second launch of the Falcon 9 v1.1 version of the rocket,

7140-400: Was unsuccessful in reigniting the second stage Merlin 1D vacuum engine once the rocket had deployed its primary payload ( CASSIOPE ) and all of its nanosat secondary payloads. The restart failure was determined to be frozen igniter fluid lines in the second-stage Merlin 1D engine. A minor redesign was done to address the problem by adding additional insulation to the lines. A second burn of

7225-611: Was used for a number of ground tests. SpaceX proceeded to then build a launch facility in the northern Pacific Ocean at the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site , on Omelek Island , a part of the Kwajalein Atoll , Marshall Islands . SpaceX began launching Falcon 1 rockets from Omelek in 2006. Falcon 1 Flight 4 was the first successful privately funded, liquid-propelled launch vehicle to achieve orbit, and

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