SpaceX plans to launch two communication satellites to orbit from Florida’s Space Coast today (Dec. 17).
A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today during an 87-minute window that opens at 3:59 p.m. EDT (2059 GMT), carrying the O3b mPOWER 7 and 8 satellites to medium Earth orbit (MEO), about 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) above our planet.
SpaceX will webcast the action live via its X account, starting about 15 minutes before liftoff.
O3b mPOWER is a MEO communications constellation operated by the Luxembourg-based company SES. It currently consists of six satellites, which reached orbit on three Falcon 9 missions that flew between December 2022 and November 2023.
The network is operational now, but it will keep growing to a total of 11 satellites, all of which will leave Earth atop Falcon 9 rockets. The spacecraft are built by Boeing and weigh about 3,750 pounds (1,700 kilograms) apiece.
Related: SpaceX launches O3b mPOWER communication satellites on its 84th mission of 2023
If all goes according to plan today, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come back to Earth for a touchdown on the droneship “Just Read the Instructions” about 8.5 minutes after launch. It will be the first-ever launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description.
The rocket’s upper stage will carry the two satellites to orbit, deploying the first one about 113 minutes after launch and the second seven minutes later.
SpaceX has launched more than 120 Falcon 9 missions in 2024 so far. The vast majority of them — nearly 70% — have been devoted to assembling the company’s Starlink broadband network in low Earth orbit.
The Starlink megaconstellation currently consists of more than 6,800 operational satellites and could eventually harbor 40,000 spacecraft.