SpaceX Blasts Falcon 9 Rocket from Vandenberg Day after Scrubbing Launch Seconds Before Liftoff
Among 21 Satellites Deployed in Saturday's Launch Is OneWeb's Next-Gen, Beam-Hopping Broadband Satellite
A day after scrubbing its launch just seconds before liftoff, SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket early Saturday morning from Vandenberg Space Force Base in northern Santa Barbara County and deployed a total of 21 satellites —16 for the British firm OneWeb’s broadband “constellation” and five spares for U.S.-based telecoms company Iridium. Less than nine minutes after the 6:16 a.m. liftoff, the rocket’s first-stage booster returned to Earth and landed on a droneship in the Pacific Ocean.
In separate announcements, Iridium and OneWeb confirmed contact with their respective satellites after the launch.
Included in today’s payload is OneWeb’s technology demonstration satellite known as JoeySat, “a satellite that will test an innovative beam-hopping capability which will allow satellites to switch between different places on Earth and adjust the strength of the communications signals based on customer needs or demands,” according to the company.
