SpaceX launches twin communications satellites for Space Norway

By Andrew Blackman - August 12, 2024
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Launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carry a batch of Starlink satellites on Mission 8-3. The rocket launched at 8:50 a.m. EDT Saturday, August 10th from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Source: USA Today Network/Reuters.

SpaceX successfully launched the Falcon 9 rocket for the Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM) on Sunday, Spaceflight Now reports. The rocket deployed that are designed to provide military communications and commercial broadband in the northern polar region.

  • The Falcon 9’s first stage booster, B1061, successfully landed on the droneship ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ The ASBM satellites, each weighing about two tons, were built on Northrop Grumman’s GEOStar-3 satellite bus and will operate in a highly elliptical orbit to cover the Arctic region.
  • The ASBM mission, initiated in 2019, is a joint venture between the U.S. Space Force, Northrop Grumman, and Space Norway, with the satellites operating in the same orbital plane but eight hours apart. The satellites’ payloads are from the U.S., Norway, and the European Commission.
  • The satellites will provide broadband to users in the High North. The mission also includes the U.S. Space Force’s Enhanced Polar Systems-Recapitalization (EPS-R) payloads, designed to provide secure communications in the Arctic.