RE: SES-9 Arrives at Cape Canaveral for Late-January Launch
Somewhat lost in the hubbub over SpaceX’s Dec. 21 rocket landing was the fact that the Falcon 9’s upper stage successfully fired its engine after dropping 11 Orbcomm Inc. satellites in orbit.
The test-firing demonstrated after the Falcon 9's failure in June that an upgraded version of the rocket was ready for its next customer at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Luxembourg-based communications satellite operator SES.
Whereas Orbcomm’s satellites only needed to reach an altitude of about 500 miles, SES-9 must climb more than 22,000 miles up.
Launch of SES-9 is tentatively expected in January, after SpaceX’s planned Jan. 17 launch of a U.S. government science satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Also overshadowed by the excitement over the recent rocket landing was what launched that day.
Publicly traded Orbcomm Inc.’s satellites provide machine-to-machine communications networks used in part to track goods shipped around the world by road, rail and sea.
For example, they monitor the temperature in refrigerated rail cars transporting Tropicana orange juice, and trucks carrying holiday goods to Wal-Mart stores.
“We are part of your everyday life, it’s just you’ve never heard of us,” CEO Marc Eisenberg said before the launch.
Source.
http://www.floridatoday.com/story/t...ape-canaveral-air-force-station-ses/78065072/