The SpaceX rocket that launched the company’s first astronaut mission for NASA last month started its engines once again on Saturday (July 11) in a test that sets the stage for the launch of South Korea’s first military satellite this week.
The Falcon 9 rocket briefly ignited its nine first-stage Merlin engines in a so-called static fire test at Space Launch Compex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The standard test of the SpaceX rocket clears the way for the planned launch of the Anasis-II military communications satellite for the South Korean government on Tuesday (July 14) at 5 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT).
“Full static litmus test: target on July 14 for the Falcon 9 ANASIS-II launch from SLC-40 in Florida,” SpaceX wrote in a Twitter update. The same first stage of Falcon 9 launched NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station in Demo-2, SpaceX’s first manned space flight, on May 30, SpaceX added.
The rocket test occurred the same day that SpaceX’s planned launch of a different Falcon 9 rocket carrying 57 Starlink Internet satellites and two BlackSky Global Earth-imaging satellites form the nearby Pad 39A launch site at the Kennedy Space Center in The NASA. SpaceX canceled that launch Saturday morning citing the need for more rocket controls.
Built by Airbus Defense and Space, Anasis-II has been billed as South Korea’s first military satellite and is designed to “provide secure communications over wide coverage,” according to Airbus.
The new satellite is based on Airbus’ Eurostar E3000 satellite platform and will launch into a geostationary orbit, Airbus added. Geostationary orbits allow satellites to maintain a position on the same part of Earth at an altitude of approximately 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers).
According to Spaceflight Now, Anasis-II was previously known as KMilSatCom. Until this mission, South Korea has relied on civilian and international-owned satellites for communication needs, Spaceflight Now added.
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