O3b mPOWER: SpaceX Launches Satellites For SES In 24-hour Triple-header For The Elon Musk Company

SpaceX on Tuesday, launched the O3b mPOWER mission from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, deploying two communication satellites, O3b mPOWER 7 and 8, to medium Earth orbit(MEO) for Luxembourg-based company SES. This was part of a spaceflight triple-header in under 24 hours, with earlier launches of the RRT-1 and NROL-149 missions by the Elon Musk company.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the O3b mPOWER 7 and 8 satellites lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 2226 UTC.

The rocket's first stage came back to Earth for a touchdown on the SpaceX droneship "Just Read the Instructions" about 8.5 minutes after liftoff as planned. It was the first-ever liftoff and landing for this particular Falcon 9 booster, according to a SpaceX mission description.

The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, continued spaceward carrying the two satellites which were deployed around 2 hours after launch, about 8,000 kilometers above our planet.

The O3b mPOWER satellites are part of a constellation operated by SES, which aims to provide high-speed internet connections to remote and underserved regions. The spacecraft are built by Boeing and weigh approximately 1,700 kilograms each.

Tuesday's successful launch marked the first flight of SpaceX’s enhanced first-stage booster tailored for the SES satellites.

SES's constellation is currently operational with six satellites, which reached orbit on three Falcon 9 missions that flew between December 2022 and November 2023. The network will grow to a total of 11 spacecraft, all of which will be launched by SpaceX.

Unlike SES's constellation, SpaceX's own Starlink megaconstellation currently operates in low earth orbit(LEO) with more than 6,800 operational satellites, and could eventually grow to 40,000 spacecraft.

SpaceX has launched over 128 Falcon 9 missions in 2024 so far, majority of which have been devoted to assembling the company's Starlink constellation.