WASHINGTON — A Falcon 9 efficiently positioned into orbit a pair of Galileo navigation satellites April 27 in a launch that was uncommon in a number of points.
The Falcon 9 lifted off from the Kennedy Area Middle’s Launch Advanced 39A at 8:34 p.m. Jap, carrying the Galileo GM25 and FM27 satellites. The European Union Company for the Area Programme, or EUSPA, the EU company that handles Galileo operations, confirmed the satellites have been in orbit and working a number of hours later.
The launch befell with a level of secrecy often reserved for categorised nationwide safety launches. SpaceX offered no video from the launch after stage separation and ended its webcast after affirmation of payload fairing separation. The corporate deferred to the client for additional updates on the mission.
It was unclear what prompted the heightened secrecy. Earlier Galileo satellite tv for pc launches on Ariane and Soyuz rockets from French Guiana had higher protection, as have Falcon 9 launches of Galileo’s American counterpart, the International Positioning System.
Neither the European Fee nor the European Area Company publicized the launch prematurely. In statements after the profitable launch, European officers studiously averted mentioning how the satellites have been launched.
“2 new Galileo satellites efficiently launched final evening,” Thierry Breton, EU commissioner for the inner market, posted on social media April 28. “Awaiting Ariane6, the 2024 launches are essential for Galileo’s resilience, robustness and continuity of its civilian & army purposes.”
That assertion got here the closest to acknowledging why the satellites have been launching on Falcon 9. The retirement of the Ariane 5, lack of entry to the Soyuz rocket after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine greater than two years in the past and delays within the introduction of the Ariane 6 left Europe with out its personal technique of launching Galileo satellites, a state of affairs dubbed a “launcher disaster” by ESA Director Normal Josef Aschbacher.
Breton mentioned in November 2023 that the European Fee was finalizing a cope with SpaceX for 2 Falcon 9 launches, every carrying two Galileo satellites, scheduled for 2024. That contract was valued at 180 million euros ($193 million), he mentioned.
This launch was the second European institutional mission to fly on a Falcon 9 due to the continued launcher disaster, after the launch of ESA’s Euclid house telescope in July 2023. One other pair of Galileo satellites will launch on a Falcon 9 later this yr, together with separate Falcon 9 launches of ESA’s EarthCARE Earth science mission and Hera asteroid mission.
For SpaceX, this launch was the 20th flight of this booster, tying a reuse mark set earlier within the month by one other booster launching a set of Starlink satellites. The booster beforehand launched missions starting from a GPS satellite tv for pc and Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 lunar lander to 13 units of Starlink satellites.
The launch was additionally the ultimate mission for this booster, designed B1060. SpaceX mentioned the extra efficiency required to position the Galileo satellites into medium Earth orbit meant that the booster couldn’t be recovered. It broke a streak of 146 Falcon 9 launches with a booster touchdown courting again to November 2022, when SpaceX carried out back-to-back Falcon 9 launches carrying geostationary satellites the place the boosters have been expended.
“We’re working towards qualifying our fleet of Falcon boosters and fairings to assist 40 missions every,” the corporate acknowledged after liftoff, noting that this launch was the 200th to make use of beforehand flown payload fairings.
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