World’s Largest Private Communications Satellite to be Launched Today, Here’s all you Need to Know about this Mission
World’s Largest Private Communications Satellite to be Launched Today
SpaceX is set to launch what could be the largest private communications satellite ever on Thursday, July 27. The Jupiter 3 satellite is designed to deliver internet services to customers in North and South America.
The Falcon Heavy rocket will take off carrying Jupiter 3 will be taking off from Launch Complex-39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Elon Musk-led company is targeting a launch time of 8.34 AM IST on Thursday, July 27, as per a Space.com report. The Falcon Heavy had the highest payload capacity among all operational rockets for a long time till NASA launched the Artemis 1 mission with the Space Launch System (SLS). SpaceX’s Starship rocket system, which is still being developed and tested, is poised to be even more powerful than that.
The Jupiter 3 satellite features a new architecture based on a range of new technologies, including the miniaturisation of electronics, solid-state amplifiers and more efficient antenna designs, according to Maxar, the company that built the satellite. It will join Hughes’ existing Jupiter satellite network, doubling its current capacity to 500 GBps.
Here’s all you need to know about this mission:
- The Falcon Heavy slated to carry JUPITER 3 to orbit will liftoff from Launch Complex-39A, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, in Florida.
- It is SpaceX’s seventh launch for the triple-booster rocket.
- The Jupiter 3 will join others in the Hughes Jupiter satellite fleet already in orbit, Space.com reported.
- Jupiter 3’s size will rival the wingspan of a commercial airliner, which can range from 130-160 feet.
- The satellite will support services such as in-flight Wi-Fi and augment private Wi-Fi usage with other wireless technologies.
Last week, SpaceX and Indonesia launched a satellite from the United States aimed at bringing high-speed internet to remote areas across the island country. The European-built SATRIA-1 took off on 19 July from a Florida launch station, deployed by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo called it the country’s “first government-owned multi-function satellite with the biggest capacity in Asia”.
The device is scheduled to come online by 2024 and will offer a connection speed of 150 gigabytes per second — three times the current speed of satellite internet in the archipelago.
In May, SpaceX sent two Saudi Arabia’s astronauts, including the nation’s 1st woman in space, to International Space Station.
A SpaceX capsule docked with the ISS on 22 May as part of a private mission chartered by Axiom Space.
The Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) crew took off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre.
(With Inputs From Agencies)