Re: SES 8 launch: Next attempt today 30th Nov
SpaceX launches SES commercial TV
satellite for Asia
The US SpaceX company has
announced its intention to take a
big slice of the market for
launching the world's TV and
telecoms satellites.
The California outfit has just
launched a new platform for satellite
operator SES to serve its growing
customer base in India and South
East Asia.
It is the first time SpaceX has put a
satellite in a geostationary transfer
orbit, far above the Earth.
The launch took place at Cape
Canaveral in Florida.
It came at the third time of asking,
after two previous launch attempts
in recent days had been thwarted by
technical glitches.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket got up off
the pad at 17:41 local time (22:41
GMT) and released the SES-8
platform on its planned trajectory
some 33 minutes later.
'Game-changer'
The commercial market for launching
telecoms spacecraft is tightly
contested, but has become
dominated by just a few companies
companies - notably, Europe's
Arianespace, which flies the Ariane
5, and International Launch Services
(ILS), which markets Russia's Proton
vehicle.
SpaceX is promising to substantially
undercut the existing players on
price, and SES, the world's second
largest telecoms satellite operator,
believes the incumbents had better
take note of the California company's
capability.
"The entry of SpaceX into the
commercial market is a game-
changer - it is going to really shake
the industry to its roots," SES's chief
technical officer Martin Halliwell told
BBC News before the launch.
The flight from Cape Canaveral was
the seventh mission to date for a
Falcon 9.
All previous ascents had gone to low
orbits just a few hundred km above
the Earth. This has been work done
mostly for the US space agency
(Nasa), to keep the space station
stocked with supplies.
For the latest outing, on the other
hand, the Falcon was aiming to put
the SES-8 satellite into a so-called
supersynchronous transfer orbit - an
elliptical path that runs out from
about 300km to 80,000km from the
Earth. It required the Falcon shut
down its upper-stage for 18 minutes
during the flight and then re-ignite
it briefly to complete the orbit
insertion properly - a procedure that
failed on a demonstration mission in
September.
This time, however, the re-ignition
was completed as planned.
SES-8, with its own propulsion
system, must now circularise its
orbit and move itself to a
"stationary" position some 36,000km
above the equator at 95 degrees
East.
"The successful insertion of the
SES-8 satellite confirms the
upgraded Falcon 9 launch vehicle
delivers to the industry's highest
performance standards," Elon Musk,
CEO and chief designer of SpaceX,
said in a statement.
"As always, SpaceX remains
committed to delivering the safest,
most reliable launch vehicles on the
market today. We appreciate SES's
early confidence in SpaceX and look
forward to launching additional SES
satellites in the years to come."
Customer backlog
SES, which is based in Betzdorf,
Luxembourg, is the world's second
largest fixed satellite services
provider.
It already relays more than 6,000 TV
stations on its 50-plus satellites in
orbit. The new 3.2-tonne SES-8 will
be focussed on delivering yet more
capability in one of the operator's
key growth regions.
SpaceX has a backlog of customers
waiting for an opportunity to launch
on a Falcon.
Its manifest, which is approaching
50 flights, represents about $4bn in
contracts.
A good chunk of these are Nasa
space station sorties, but a sizeable
segment also now includes
commercial customers like SES who
have been drawn to SpaceX's price-
competitive offering.
The interest means SpaceX is having
to ramp up production of its Falcon.
"We have been investing," explained
Gwynne Shotwell, the SpaceX
president and chief operating officer.
"Right now, we're at about a vehicle
per month production rate. We'll be
at 18 per year in the next couple of
quarters, and by the end of next
year we'll be at a rate of 24 a year,
or two a month."
This calls for rapid fabrication of
Merlin engines - the kerosene/
liquid-oxygen power units that give
the Falcon its thrust. Each rocket
needs 10 Merlins - nine on the lower
stage, one on the upper stage.
Europe's launcher industry is
already taking steps to try to protect
Ariane's market share. These steps
involve boosting the performance of
the existing rocket design, and
starting work on a new Ariane 6
variant that can be made for
substantially lower cost.
Climb to orbit: The Falcon heads out
over the Atlantic from Cape
Canaveral
