World's largest private communications satellite to be launched today. 5 updates
Billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX is poised to launch the world's largest commercial communications satellite today. A Falcon Heavy rocket will launch Maxar Technologies' largest ever satellite called Jupiter 3, according to Space.com.
Approximately eight minutes after launch, Falcon Heavy's side boosters will return to Earth and land on Landing Zones 1 and 2. Last week, SpaceX and Indonesia launched a satellite from the United States aimed at bringing high-speed internet to remote areas across the island country.
The European-built SATRIA-1 took off on 19 July from a Florida launch station, deployed by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Indonesian President Joko Widodo called it the country's "first government-owned multi-function satellite with the biggest capacity in Asia".
The device is scheduled to come online by 2024 and will offer a connection speed of 150 gigabytes per second -- three times the current speed of satellite internet in the archipelago. In May, SpaceX sent two Saudi Arabia's astronauts, including the nation’s 1st woman in space, to International Space Station.
A SpaceX capsule docked with the ISS on 22 May as part of a private mission chartered by Axiom Space. The Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) crew took off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre.
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