SpaceX launches Hotbird 13G telecom satellite, lands rocket at sea - Space.com

SpaceX launched a telecom outer to orbit and landed a rocket connected a vessel astatine oversea aboriginal Thursday (Nov. 3).

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying Eutelsat's Hotbird 13G outer lifted disconnected from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Thursday astatine 1:22 a.m. EDT (0522 GMT). 

The Falcon 9's archetypal signifier returned to Earth a small little than 9 minutes later, touching down arsenic planned connected SpaceX's Just Read the Instructions droneship, which was stationed successful the Atlantic Ocean.

Related: 8 ways that SpaceX has transformed spaceflight

It was the seventh motorboat and landing for this peculiar archetypal stage.

"The Falcon 9 archetypal signifier booster supporting this ngo antecedently launched CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, and 1 Starlink mission," SpaceX wrote successful a prelaunch ngo description (opens successful caller tab). (Crew-3 and Crew-4 were astronaut missions to the International Space Station, and CRS-22 and CRS-25 were uncrewed cargo flights to the orbiting lab.)

Hotbird 13G, meanwhile, kept flying atop the Falcon 9's precocious stage, which deployed the outer into geosynchronous transportation orbit close connected schedule, astir 36 minutes aft liftoff.

Hotbird 13G was built by Airbus Defense and Space and volition beryllium operated by the France-based telecom institution Eutelsat. The outer volition yet acceptable up store successful  geostationary orbit, astir 22,300 miles (35,900 kilometers) supra our planet. 

Hotbird 13G volition articulation its twin, Hotbird 13F, which launched to that spot of cosmic existent property aboard a Falcon 9 past month. The 2 spacecraft volition regenerate 3 existing Hotbird satellites, taking connected rather a spot of responsibility.

The Hotbird outer household "forms 1 of the largest broadcasting systems successful Europe, delivering 1,000 tv channels to much than 160 million TV homes successful Europe, North Africa and the Middle East," Eutelsat representatives wrote (opens successful caller tab). 

The Hotbird 13G motorboat was the 2nd that SpaceX conducted from Florida's Space Coast implicit a astir two-day span. On Tuesday (Nov. 1), Elon Musk's institution launched the USSF-44 mission for the U.S. Space Force from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

USSF-44 employed a Falcon Heavy rocket, the astir almighty launcher flying today. The ngo was conscionable the 4th ever for the Falcon Heavy and its archetypal since June 2019.

Editor's note: This communicative was updated astatine 2 a.m. EDT connected Nov. 3 with quality of palmy launch, rocket landing and outer deploy.

Mike Wall is the writer of "Out There (opens successful caller tab)" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a publication astir the hunt for alien life. Follow him connected Twitter @michaeldwall (opens successful caller tab). Follow america connected Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens successful caller tab) or on Facebook (opens successful caller tab).