If all goes well in today’s SpaceX satellite launch, Turkmenistan will have its first communications satellite placed into orbit this evening. The satellite is scheduled to travel into space at 6:14pm EST, with a 60% chance of good weather in the forecast. The main concern regarding the weather would be the chance that clouds could obscure the satellite launch. Should this occur, the mission would have to be rescheduled for another date with better conditions, but officials are hoping that will not be necessary.
The SpaceX satellite launch will be conducted from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. The satellite was made by Thales Alenia Space, a French company.
SpaceX Satellite Launch to Provide Telecommunications Services
The satellite, dubbed TurkmenAlem52E/MonacoSat, will give Turkmenistan’s patrons TV, Internet, mobile phone, and data service, thus providing them the means to have their own telecommunications system in place for their more than five million citizens. Now, the South Asian nation rents satellite coverage from the Russians.
The satellite is about 10,000 pounds and 16-feet tall. It is expected to travel in an orbit above the Earth at 22,000 miles above the equator following a longitude of 52 degrees east. It will have a coverage area of not only Turkmenistan, but also Europe and Africa. It was originally supposed to go up in November 2014, but was delayed due to a problem with the SpaceX rocket’s helium pressurization system.
No Rocket Return Flight Planned This Trip
Unlike previous attempts, SpaceX is not going to try to have their Falcon 9 rocket travel back to Earth and try to land on a target ship. This is because there is not enough fuel this time around. Previous attempts were not successful in a soft landing on the target platform. Those attempts were for the purpose of trying to salvage the Falcon 9 rocket for future use. The hope of SpaceX are to save money on having to build new rockets for every SpaceX satellite launch. Each of the Falcon 9 rockets costs millions of dollars, so this would be a significant savings once they are able to perfect the return landing technique.
This scheduled satellite launch will be the first time one of SpaceX’s rockets will carry a satellite up into orbit for Thales Alentia Space, however, it will be the 5th satellite that the private space agency will have sent to travel around the Earth this year so far.
About 50 VIPs, comprising of ministers from both Turkmenistan and Monaco, are expected to be at the scheduled SpaceX satellite launch to watch it travel into space to take its place amongst the other satellites and other items circling the Earth.
This hot air ballon festival captures the essence of draw of all things related to up in the air/space matters. This speaks to this SpaceX satellite launch being a public affair:
https://youtu.be/3v0rRcwE75U
