SpaceX Launches Turkish Communications Satellite Turksat 5A And Successfully Returns First Stage Of Falcon 9
SpaceX is expected to kick off another busy year with launches by delivering a Turkish communications satellite into orbit on January 8. The Falcon 9 rocket with a height of 70 m was launched from the cosmodrome at Cape Canaveral at 5:15 Moscow time, approximately 45 minutes after the scheduled launch date for Turksat 5A launch into space.
The short-term delay was related to the problem of tracking the flight range. Before the launch, forecasters predicted a 70 per cent chance of favourable launch conditions. Today’s mission marks the first launch of Elon Musk’s company in 2021. 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the rocket’s first stage landed on one of SpaceX’s two Just Read the Instructions drone ships in the Atlantic Ocean.
This was already the fourth launch for the first stage of the Falcon 9, called the B1060. The launch vehicle launched an upgraded GPS III satellite for the US Space Force in June 2020, after which it was used to launch SpaceX Starlink communications satellites in September and October.
This time, there were no static firing tests of the Falcon 9 before the flight, which is quite rare. Nine Merlin 1D engines of the first stage Falcon 9 put the Turksat 5A satellite, created by Airbus, into orbit 33 minutes after launch. The spacecraft is designed to operate for 15 years, providing broadband Ku-band coverage to Turkey, the Middle East, Europe and parts of Africa.
SpaceX is due to launch a similar spacecraft, Turksat 5B, later this year. Turkey is expanding its presence in orbit. In October, activists protested outside SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California, urging the company not to cooperate with Turkey over its involvement in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Turksat 5A will take almost four months to reach its final altitude. The spacecraft will use its onboard plasma thrusters, powered by the spacecraft’s solar panels, rather than conventional fuel. These motors are more energy-efficient, but, of course, have low thrust.
SpaceX hopes to launch 40 rockets this year from its launch sites in California and Florida. Among them will be two missions to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station, a range of Starlink launches and one Falcon Heavy launch. The next mission on January 14 should be Transporter-1, in which SpaceX is going to launch 72 small satellites and 4 additional payloads for a number of clients.
