US space company SpaceX successfully launched a satellite for digital radio broadcasting on Sunday, Florida Today reported.
A Falcon-9 launch vehicle from SpaceX took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 06:26 a.m. Belgian time. The mission already had the first success when the first stage landed on the drone ship Just Read The Instructions after a safe return. It was already the fourth flight of those stairs; reuse of rocket parts reduces launch costs.
About 33 minutes after take-off, the payload was successfully released from the second rocket stage: the Sirius XMM company’s SXM-8 broadcasting via satellite and online radio.
The artificial satellite, built by Maxar in California, is to remain operational for 15 years from a geostationary orbit that it is now trying to achieve under its own power. It marked the eighteenth Falcon-9 launch this year at Cape Canaveral.
SpaceX has already launched more launchers in six months than in the whole of 2019, including nine in 44 days. Dozens more will be added this year. According to Florida Today, since the Falcon-9’s introduction in 2010, the launcher has successfully flown 120 times.
