SpaceX launches 10 more Iridium satellites in "worst" conditions
New Delhi : SpaceX, the private American aerospace company has launched Falcon 9 rocket from California on July 25, early morning, which carried 10 more next-generation satellites for Iridium Communications, and successfully landed the first stage on a drone ship in the “worst” weather conditions.
After the rocket's nine Merlin 1D engines passed an automated evaluation, the Falcon 9 was released from the Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base at 4:39 a.m. PDT (1139 GMT).
Due to the accuracy needed for satellite insertion, the launch had only a one-second window, John Insprucker, a principal integration engineer at SpaceX, said during a live webcast.
The launch went smoothly, despite of foggy weather which obscured the view of the rocket until after blasted off. At about 2 minutes and 27 seconds, the company confirmed main engine cutoff and stage separation.
“The weather and sea conditions were fairly rough. They are the worst that we've ever had for trying to get a first stage on the drone ship," said Insprucker during the live webcast
About seven minutes and 17 seconds later, the rocket's first stage successfully reached the drone ship stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
"Despite challenging weather conditions, Falcon 9 first stage booster landed on Just Read the Instructions," SpaceX tweeted.
The launch also attempted to catch-hold of the Falcon 9's nose cone, or payload fairing, with a giant net tight across a boat called Mr. Steven. However, the weather was not at all favourable for the maneuver, the company confirmed in an update.
"They did see the payload fairing coming down, but they were not able to catch it in the net," Insprucker said during the broadcast about 50 minutes after liftoff.
SpaceX has been attempting to catch its rockets' for months, but all trials went in vain. Earlier in July, the company tweeted photos of a boat with latest four times larger than the previous version.
The primary mission of the SpaceX launch, called Iridium-7, is to deliver 10 satellites to low-Earth orbit for Iridium Communications, an American company providing satellite communications.
The Iridium Next satellites were deployed about 56 minutes after liftoff, with the process taking about 15 minutes.
"Successful deployment of 10 @IridiumComm NEXT satellites to low-Earth orbit confirmed," SpaceX tweeted.
Now, the total number of Iridium's satellites in orbit has increased to 65. It is the seventh of eight scheduled SpaceX launches for Iridium's next-generation global satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT.
In total, 81 satellites are built, with 66 in the operational constellation, nine serving as on-orbit spares and six as ground spares.
Iridium is the only mobile voice and data satellite communications network that covers the entire globe. SpaceX added that the agency is on its way to fully replace the world's largest commercial satellite network of low-Earth orbit satellites which will be considered one of the largest "tech upgrades" in history.
The company believes that the next generation global satellite constellation will provide exclusive coverage over Earth's entire surface, including across oceans, airways and polar regions.
