Watch a SpaceX rocket send Indonesian satellite into orbit tonight (June 18)
Update for 5:45 PM EDT: SpaceX is now targeting 18:21 EDT (2221 GMT) at the earliest for tonight’s launch of the SATRIA-1 satellite for Indonesia. That’s a 15-minute delay from the original 6:06 p.m. EDT target due to high upper-level winds, SpaceX says.
SpaceX will launch an Indonesian communications satellite to orbit and land the returning rocket on the ocean tonight (June 18), and you can watch the action live.
A Falcon 9 rocket topped with the SATRIA-1 satellite is scheduled to lift off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida today at 18:21[ads1] EDT (2221 GMT) during a 178-minute launch window.
You can watch it live here on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly through the company. Coverage is expected to begin approximately 15 minutes prior to launch.
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If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth for a vertical touchdown on the SpaceX drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. The touchdown is scheduled to occur approximately 8.5 minutes after the liftoff.
It will be the 12th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Among the previous efforts were four Dragon missions to the International Space Station for NASA, two of them crewed and two of them robotic resupply flights.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage will continue to carry SATRIA-1 to geosynchronous transfer orbit, finally deploying the satellite there just under 37 minutes after liftoff.
SATRIA-1 (whose name is short for “Satellite of the Republic of Indonesia”) will be operated for the Indonesian government by the Indonesian company PSN.
The $550 million spacecraft “is intended to increase connectivity in the country, providing free internet connection to 150,000 public facilities, including schools, regional government offices and health facilities,” according to The Jakarta Post.
“SATRIA-1 will have a throughput capacity of 150 billion bits per second, three times the capacity of the nine telecommunications satellites that Indonesia currently uses,” the outlet added.
