CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — Under good weather conditions, SpaceX launched a communications satellite for India on Monday afternoon.
What You Need To Know
- The NSIL GSAT-N2 mission took off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Liftoff of GSAT-N2! pic.twitter.com/4JqOrQINzE
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 18, 2024
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket sent up the NSIL GSAT-N2 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, stated the company.
The two-hour window for this launch opened at 1:31 p.m. ET.
The 45th Weather Squadron predicted about a 95% chance of good liftoff conditions with the only concern being the cumulus cloud rule.
Find out more about the weather criteria for a Falcon 9 launch.
If the launch was scrubbed, the next try would have been Tuesday at 4:33 a.m. ET..
Going up
This Falcon 9’s first-stage booster, named B1073, has 18 missions under its belt, including a lunar mission from a joint launch by a private Japanese company and NASA.
- ispace’s HAKUTO-R and NASA’s Lunar Flashlight
- SES-22 telecommunications satellite
- Amazonas Nexus
- CRS-27
- Bandwagon-1
- 13 Starlink satellite missions
After the stage separation, it landed on the SpaceX droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean.
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship pic.twitter.com/JJwn1gKqVh
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 18, 2024
About the mission
The GSAT-N2 is a communications satellites from NewSpace India Limited, a government company owned by India’s Department of Space.
“GSAT-N2 is set to enhance broadband services and in-flight connectivity (IFC) across the Indian region. This satellite, featuring multiple spot beams and wideband Ka x Ka transponders, aims to support a large subscriber base with small user terminals, significantly boosting system throughput through its multi-beam architecture which allows frequency reuse,” stated the company in a press release in June of this year.
The satellite is expected to have 14 years of mission life to it.