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22 апреля, 2024
22 Starlink satellites launched from California by SpaceX
25 апреля, 2024SpaceX marks seventh reuse anniversary with Eutelsat 36D launch and booster landing
SpaceX launched a geostationary satellite for Eutelsat in its 30th mission so far this year. Credit: SpaceX.
TAMPA, Fla. — SpaceX successfully launched Eutelsat’s latest geostationary satellite on 30 March. The trip to the geostationary orbit over Africa and Eurasia is expected to take around half a year.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the 5,000-kilogram Eutelsat 36D lifted off at 5:52 p.m. Eastern from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and placed the satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit 34 minutes later.
Eutelsat 36D is based on the all-electric Airbus Eurostar Neo platform and equipped with 70 physical Ku-band transponders for providing TV and government connectivity services from 36 degrees East. The satellite has a steerable antenna and is set to replace French fleet operator Eutelsat’s aging Eutelsat 36B satellite.
Eva Berneke, Eutelsat’s CEO, stated that Eutelsat 36D will commence commercial services in the second half of 2024, following its positional alignment and completion of health checks.
The satellite will be co-located with Ekspress-AMU1, also known as Eutelsat 36C, which Russia’s RSCC operates. Ekspress-AMU1 is one of the satellites Eutelsat leases capacity from that has been caught up in sanctions amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Reuse anniversary
SpaceX launched its first reused Falcon 9 booster for a customer seven years earlier in a mission for SES of Luxembourg on 30 March 2017. The Eutelsat 36D launch also marked SpaceX’s 30th mission this year. But less than four hours later, SpaceX launched a batch of satellites for its Starlink low Earth orbit (LEO) broadband constellation from a nearby pad at the Cape.
SpaceX had planned to launch another set of Starlink satellites on 30 March from Vandenberg, California, but poor weather forced them to cancel the mission.
Eutelsat operates a network of more than 600 LEO satellites alongside 35 geostationary satellites.
The company expects to have completed 90% of the ground network OneWeb needs for full global services by the end of June.
Eutelsat is confident that its multi-orbit capabilities will give it an edge over Starlink and other single-orbit constellations. It will offer enterprise and government customers extra network redundancy and flexibility.
