Update for 9:30 pm ET: SpaceX has postponed the launch of the Eutelsat 10B satellite by 24 hours, to no earlier than Tuesday, Nov. 22, to allow more time for additional checks on the mission’s Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff remains set for 9:57 p.m. EST (0257 Nov. 23 GMT). The delay means the launch will now liftoff about 6 hours after SpaceX’s launch of a new Dragon cargo ship to the International Space Station for NASA.
SpaceX is launching a communications satellite for airplane and sea Internet services, and you can watch the event life.
SpaceX will use a Falcon 9 rocket to launch the Eutelsat 10B mission on behalf of Eutelsat Tuesday (Nov. 22) at 9:57 p.m. EST (0257 on Nov. 23 GMT). Live coverage will be available here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, about 15 minutes before the liftoff.
The mission will launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in coastal Florida; the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage is expected to touch down on a nearby drone ship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, roughly 10 minutes after liftoff. This will be the 11th launch for this Falcon 9 first stage, according to SpaceX.
“The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched Telstar 18 Vantage, Iridium-8 and eight Starlink missions,” SpaceX officials wrote of the rocket. (Starlink is SpaceX’s broadband Internet series of satellites, with more than 3,000 currently active in orbit.)
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During the launch, Eutelsat 10B will be placed into a geostationary transfer orbit to make its way to a geosynchronous orbit, meaning that it will orbit the Earth in such a way to consistently gaze at one part of the planet below.
Eutelsat 10B will include a high-capacity communications payload in the Ku-band “in the busiest air and sea traffic zones” over the North Atlantic, Europe, the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East, Eutelsat officials wrote (opens in new tab) of the mission. A second Ku-band payload will be available for the Atlantic Ocean, Africa and the Indian Ocean.
The satellite also carries two widebeam C- and Ku-band payloads for existing customers upon Eutelsat 10A, Eutelsat officials stated. The new satellite will replace the 12-year-old Eutelsat 10A, which is expected to enter its end of service in 2023 for customers in the Americas and Asia.
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why Am I Taller (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book about space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
