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SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches Spanish Amazonas Nexus satellite

Falcon 9 streaks into orbit on its ninth launch of 2023. (Richard Angle)

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SpaceX has successfully launched Spanish connectivity provider HISPASAT’s Amazonas Nexus satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit.

The mission kicks off a surge of geostationary satellite launches for SpaceX. It was also the company’s 16th Falcon rocket launch in nine weeks, demonstrating an extraordinary cadence just a hair away from CEO Elon Musk’s ambitious 2023 target.

After several delays, SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 8:32 pm EST, three hours into a four-hour window. The 4.5-ton (~9,900 lb) Amazonas Nexus communications satellite was the only payload inside the rocket’s reusable carbon-composite payload fairing. Built by Thales Alenia Space, the communications satellite is destined for a geostationary orbit above the western hemisphere, where it will expand and improve HISPASAT’s coverage across Greenland, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Americas.

Amazonas Nexus won’t be SpaceX’s first launch for HISPASAT. In 2018, an older version of the Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched Hispasat 30W-6, the company’s next newest satellite. Amazonas Nexus is designed to operate for at least 15 years and is powered by a large 20-kilowatt solar array.

In addition to a primary payload for HISPASAT, the satellite will carry GreenSat, which will ensure that 100% of Greenland’s population has access to high-speed internet. It will also carry the Pathfinder 2 payload for the US Space Force, continuing a program created to “explore new contracting models to cover [US military] telecommunication service needs with commercial satellites.”

Ordered from Thales Alenia Space in January 2020, Amazonas Nexus was originally scheduled to launch in the second half of 2022, Q3 2022, late 2022, and January 2023. The satellite was finally made ready for launch by early February and lifted off on February 6th, 2023. Falcon 9 booster B1073 supported the mission without issue, completing its sixth orbital-class launch and successfully touching down 620 kilometers (386 mi) downrange on SpaceX drone ship Just Read The Instructions.

Falcon 9’s expendable upper stage first entered a parking orbit in low Earth orbit (LEO), and later conducted a second burn of its Merlin Vacuum engine, boosting Amazonas Nexus into a supersynchronous geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) measuring roughly 350 kilometers (~215 mi) by 60,000 kilometers (~37,150 mi). “Supersynchronous” refers to the fact that the apogee of the transfer orbit is significantly higher than a geosynchronous orbit (~35,800 km). Falcon 9’s performance surplus means that Amazonas Nexus will be able to reach its operational orbit faster and while using less of its own propellant, potentially extending its useful lifespan.

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The mission was SpaceX’s ninth launch of 2023 and ninth launch in five weeks. If SpaceX can sustain that pace, it would translate to an average of almost 94 Falcon launches per year – just shy of Elon Musk’s goal of 100 SpaceX launches in 2023.

Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Tesla Roadster event gets delayed due to unfavorable weather

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla is delaying its event for the Roadster, moving it from this Thursday, October 1, to Thursday, October 15, due to unfavorable weather.

The company has said it has been tracking the weather for this Thursday closely with local meteorologists, and because the event can only be held outside, Tesla is making the call to delay it:

“We’ve been tracking the weather closely with local meteorologists, but given the severe conditions predicted & because this event can only be held outdoors, we’ve made the difficult decision to reschedule. New date is October 15. Additional details to follow.”

We are sure that this is bringing back PTSD for some Tesla fans, and we know it is not ideal, but this also reveals some things about the event. Tesla said that this can only be held outdoors, meaning it bodes well for the rumors that the vehicle could potentially hover.

Some believe that this was essentially confirmed by the FAA airspace restriction they were granted, but this could have been for a drone show or to keep drones from spying on the event.

Tesla Roadster is available for order once again following brief hold

The Roadster event has been long-awaited, and it is unfortunate that the weather is going to keep us all waiting a little bit longer.

The Tesla Roadster will be unveiled in Waco, Texas.

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SpaceX turned a heralding moment for Starship into its greatest

Starship reached orbit despite losing an engine, deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites on Flight 14.

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SpaceX’s Starship reached orbit for the first time on Monday, and for a few nail-biting minutes it looked like it wouldn’t. During ascent on Flight 14, one of Ship 41’s six Raptor engines shut down early, and SpaceX’s livestream host Dan Huot told viewers the team had decided not to commit to orbit. Minutes later, after what Huot described as a lot of conversation in the control room, the final poll came back in favor, and a roughly 19 second burn of a single Raptor pushed the ship into orbit about 170 miles up.

The reversal matters because SpaceX had written the exit ramp into the mission plan. The company said it would only fire the orbital insertion burn if flight controllers confirmed enough backup hardware remained for the deorbit burn, a condition Teslarati laid out ahead of the flight. Losing an engine was exactly the scenario that rule was built for.

Pressing forward fits Elon Musk’s history. Falcon 1 failed three straight times before its fourth launch reached orbit in 2008, with SpaceX nearly out of money, and Starship was developed by flying prototypes until they broke. What changed this year SpaceX going public, and with $SPCX sliding below its IPO price in July when Flight 13 slipped, the short interest climbed significantly, as Teslarati reported at the time. A Starship potentially lost today with revenue generating next-gen Starlink satellites aboard would have landed directly on shareholders.

That pressure showed up after orbit. SpaceX cut a flight planned to last nearly 10 hours to about three, moving splashdown from west of Chile to the North Pacific near Hawaii. SpaceX gave no reason, though Musk said this month the company was being extremely cautious about debris risk. The single Raptor for deorbit worked, and Ship 41 completed its flip and landing burn before breaking apart in the water, an outcome SpaceX expected. Musk has structured SpaceX’s governance to shield long term bets from market pressure.

The payload is the bigger business story. Musk posted that all 26 Starlink V3 satellites deployed and are “operating nominally.” Each V3 is rated for about 1 Tbps of downlink and 160 Gbps of uplink, so this single launch adds roughly 26 Tbps, about 10 times what a Falcon 9 load of V2 Mini satellites adds. The V3 is too large for Falcon 9, making Starship the only vehicle that can build out the planned 100,000 satellite constellation, at up to 60 per flight once it reaches routine service. Unlike the 20 V3 units on Flight 13, which reentered on a suborbital path, these will raise their orbits and could begin serving customers within weeks and bring in hundreds of millions of additional dollars in projected Starlink revenue.

SpaceX has already begun winding down Falcon 9 Starlink launches from Florida in favor of Starship. Reported targets put Flight 15 as early as October 19, leaving about three weeks to diagnose Monday’s engine shutdown before the next orbital attempt.

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Tesla Cybercab fleet doubles to well over 100 units

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(Credit: Teslarati)

Tesla quietly doubled the size of its Cybercab fleet within the Robotaxi program in Austin, Texas, over the weekend to well over 100 units.

The move not only establishes more of the steering-wheel-less and pedal-less vehicles within the ride-sharing fleet Tesla has been operating for a year, but it also solidifies a more robust Robotaxi fleet as a whole.

Riders started receiving notifications from the Robotaxi app that stated: “Cybercab fleet has doubled: more rides available.”

Tesla first launched rides in the Cybercab in early September, although the Robotaxi fleet has been active for over a year, as rides began last Summer. Cybercab is truly Tesla’s most crucial vehicle release yet, as it is the first car any company has built that is geared toward full-fledged and end-to-end autonomy, never needing human intervention for anything.

Only available in Austin at the current time, Cybercab has two seats and has been spotted testing around various U.S. states and regions; Tesla plans to deploy the Cybercab in various U.S. cities in the coming months as a best-case scenario.

Tesla Cybercab gets initial tie-in to localized, in-house cathode plant

The availability of the Cybercab has doubled from just 58 units last Monday to 125 the following Friday. Marking a substantial increase in Cybercab availability, the additional ride-sharing units are more than welcome, as wait times for Cybercabs, especially, were quite high.

The dramatic increase is a sign that demand for Robotaxi is growing and Tesla is feeling more confident that its driverless ride-hailing suite, especially its Full Self-Driving software, is able to handle any traffic situation without explicit direction or supervision from a human being.

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