Wednesday, December 4, 2013

SpaceX Completes Geostationary Transfer Mission

Hawthorne-based SpaceX, the commercial rocket firm founded by tech mogul Elon Musk, said last night that it has completed its first geostationary transfer mission, delivering a satellite--the SES-8--into orbit from Cape Canaveral. Geostationary transfer orbit is the process of delivering a satellite into position so that it can position itself into geosynchronous orbit, where a satellite essentially appears to be motionless with respect to the earth. Delivering a satellite to geostationary transfer orbit is considered a very challenging process. According to SpaceX, its Falcon 9 executed a "picture-perfect" flight and delivered on 100 percent of the mission's objectives. The satellite was delivered into orbit for the U.S. Air Force, and makes the company eligible to compete for all National Security Space (NSS) missions.

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