Watch SpaceX attempt to launch 4 Astranis satellites for the 2nd time tonight after abort

1 week ago 12

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad carrying four Astranis satellites

(Image credit: Astranis)

SpaceX will make a new attempt to launch a miniature fleet of communications satellites overnight tonight and you'll be able to watch it live online.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch four "MicroGEO" satellites for the company Astranis from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is set for 12 a.m. EST (0500 GMT) on Sunday. You can watch the launch on SpaceX's X account and mission page starting about 15 minutes before liftoff.

The midnight launch will mark SpaceX's second attempt to launch the MicroGEO satellites for Astranis. A Dec. 21 launch attempt ended in a last-second abort just as the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage engines ignited.

SpaceX's MicroGEO satellite launch, called "Astranis: From One to Many," is the second of three planned SpaceX launches in three days this weekend. The company plans to launch 22 Starlink internet satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Saturday (Dec. 28), then launch another 21 Starlink satellites from another Florida pad on Monday (Dec. 30).

"Targeting a Falcon 9 launch from all three launch pads in Florida and California over the next three days," SpaceX wrote in an X social media post Friday (Dec. 27).

The MicroGEO satellites launching Sunday were built for the San Francisco-based Astranis to provide satellite communications services for a variety of customers. Two of the four satellites will serve the Colorado-based firm Anuvu for in-flight connectivity, while another will serve a client in the Philippines. The fourth satellite, known as UtilitySat, is designed to serve multiple customers over its lifetime.

"These are our most advanced satellites yet, with a number of improvements that will generate increased capacity and affordability," Astranis CEO John Gedmark said in a statement.

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The satellites are expected to be deployed about 35 minutes after liftoff and are bound for a final geosynchronous orbit about 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) above Earth.

The Falcon 9 launching the MicroGEO mission for Astranis is no SpaceX spring chicken. This flight will mark its seventh launch, with past missions including three Starlink flights, a NASA CRS-31 cargo flight and the crewed Crew-8 and Polaris Dawn astronaut flights.

The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket is expected to return to Earth just over 8 minutes after liftoff to land on the SpaceX drone ship A Shortfall Of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX has a 2.5-hour window in which to launch the MicroGEO satellites for Astranis. If the company is unable to launch at midnight, a backup opportunity is available later Sunday night at 10:43 p.m. EST (0343 GMT Dec. 30).

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Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.

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