SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Oct. 8 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to place a industrial spacecraft into orbit for Thai satellite operator Thaicom.
The 224-foot (68-meter) rocket blasted off from a seaside launch pad at 5:06 p.m. EST (2206 GMT), rising through an overcast sky, heading toward the satellite’s drop point greater than 55,000 miles above Earth, or about one quarter solution to the moon.
From this position, the 6,649-pound (3,016 kg) Thaicom 6 satellite is predicted to descend to an altitude of roughly 22,300 miles above Earth and shift the angle of its orbit in order that it could actually be permanently aligned to transmit high-definition television and digital television services to customers from Thailand and surrounding areas.
According to Thaicom’s website, the satellite built by Orbital Sciences Corp. based in Virginia, can also be equipped to offer other communications services to customers in Southeast Asia and Africa, including Madagascar.
According to Thaicom, including launch services and insurance, the associated fee of the Thaicom 6 satellite is roughly $160 million. According to Thaicom, about two-thirds of the satellite’s capability has been sold to this point.
Monday’s launch was the second in only over a month for Space Exploration Technologies, also often known as SpaceX.
In December, the California-based company, owned and operated by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who can also be the chief executive of carmaker Tesla Motors, launched its first industrial telecommunications satellite, laying claim to a world satellite launch industry value about $6.5 billion. annually, in keeping with a study by the trade group Satellite Industry Association.
So far, private company SpaceX has sold about 50 industrial spaceflights value about $40 billion. About 25 percent of the flights are accounted for by NASA, which has hired SpaceX together with Orbital Sciences to move cargo to the International Space Station, a $100 billion research complex that flies about 400 km above Earth.
SpaceX’s next flight, scheduled for late February, will likely be the third of 12 station resupply missions under the $1.6 billion NASA contract.
