CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla. — For many space fans, the New Year started Wednesday night as SpaceX sent up Florida's first launch of 2024 with the Ovzon 3 mission.
What You Need To Know
- The Ovzon 3 launch happened at 6:04 p.m. ET, Wednesday, Jan. 3
- Lift off was from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
- Expect a sonic boom once the first-stage booster of the Falcon 9 comes in for a landing
- Scroll down to learn more about the Ovzon 3 satellite
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/2j6x0NkQuM
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 3, 2024
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, stated the company.
The 10-minute launch window opened at 6:04 p.m. ET.
If the launch did not happen, SpaceX stated the next attempt would have been Thursday with an 87-minute launch window that opens at 4:47 p.m. ET.
The 45th Weather Squadron gave a 90% chance of good liftoff conditions, with the only concern being the thick cloud layers rule.
Going into orbit
This Falcon 9’s first-stage booster, called B1076, has nine successful launches to its record, not counting this one.
- CRS-26
- OneWeb Launch 16
- Intelsat IS-40e
- O3b mPOWER
- Five Starlink missions: Group 6-1, Group 6-3, Group 6-6, Group 6-14, Group 6-21
After the stage separation, the first-stage booster landed on Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, where many heard a sonic boom.
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on Landing Zone 1 pic.twitter.com/ff8WP3KC8T
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 3, 2024
About the mission
The small communications satellite is from the Swedish/U.S. company Ovzon. The company awarded Maxar Technologies to build the Ovzon 3 satellite in 2018. The satellite is designed to increase mobile broadband connectivity in underserved regions.
Founded in 2006, Ovzon is a company with offices in Stockholm, Sweden, Herndon, Va., and Tampa.
The Ovzon 3 will be the company’s first mobile communication satellite to be launched.
“Ovzon 3 is the first privately funded and developed Swedish geostationary satellite ever to be launched. It’s also the most powerful GEO satellite ever to be put into orbit covering 1/3 of the earth via its steerable spot beams,” the company stated in a press release.
The steerable spot beams will provide power density and good antenna receive performance as the 3,968-pound (1,800-kilogram) satellite will be in a geostationary orbit around the Earth.
This new type of communications satellite will also use a unique on-board processor that the company hopes will provide “assured connectivity”.