New Delhi:
Doubling its last year’s total, Space X on Monday night will launch its 16th mission when its Falcon 9 will liftoff a Korean communication satellite.
The 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket at Kennedy Space Center’s historic pad 39A is scheduled to launch a Korean telecommunications satellite -- KoreaSat 5A from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
SpaceX will telecast the event live at its official website https://www.spacex.com/webcast. With less than 10 per cent weather violating launch rules, the forecast weather is excellent with a two-hour window.
The Falcon 9 shall send the 8000-pound communication satellite Koreasat-5A to an orbit 2,000 miles over the equator.
According to Florida Today, “Minutes after liftoff, the rocket’s first stage will drop from space to the deck of an unpiloted ship floating offshore in the Atlantic Ocean.
“If successful, the tail-down landing on the "drone ship" would be the 19th by a Falcon booster in less than two years since SpaceX first accomplished the feat.”
KoreaSat 5A is a telecommunication satellite owned by the South Korean company KTSat. According to KTSat, the KoreaSat 5A will provide TV and other communication services to the people of not just South Korea but Japan and Southeast Asia.
The satellite will also aid the maritime communications from East Africa to East Asia. The satellite is an advanced version of its predecessor KoreaSat 5 launched in 2006.
