And it's a go as SpaceX's Falcon 9 lit up the Florida night carrying the Hispasat 30W-6 satellite. The launch took place on Tuesday, March 6, at 12:33 a.m. from Launch Complex 40.
The Hispasat 30W-6 satellite is a 12,000-pound spacecraft that will provide television, broadband and other communications services to the Americas and Europe. It was manufactured by Space Systems Loral in Palo Alto, California, before shipment to Cape Canaveral in January.
Due to unfavorable weather conditions in the recovery area off of Florida’s Atlantic Coast SpaceX will not attempt to land Falcon 9’s first stage after the launch.
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"Falcon 9 flight 50 launches tonight, carrying Hispasat for Spain. At 6 metric tons and almost the size of a city bus, it will be the largest geostationary satellite we’ve ever flown."
HISPASAT is comprised of companies that have a presence in Spain as well as in Latin America, where its Brazilian affiliate HISPAMAR is based. HISPASAT distributes and broadcasts Spanish and Portuguese content, and its satellite fleet is used by direct-to-home television (DTH) and high-definition television (HDTV) digital platforms.
HISPASAT also provides satellite broadband services and other added value solutions to governments, corporations and telecommunication operators in America, Europe and North Africa. HISPASAT is the main communications bridge between Europe and the Americas.
The Hispasat 30W-6 communications satellite, built by Palo Alto, California-based SSL. (Photo: SSL)
Hispasat 30W-6 (previously Hispasat 1F) will be located at 30 degrees W and serve as a replacement for the Hispasat 30W-4 (former Hispasat 1D) satellite, providing television, broadband, corporate networks and other telecommunications solutions. Built on the SSL 1300 satellite platform, Hispasat 30W-6 is expected to have a useful life of 15 years with 10.5 kW power and a multi-mission payload distributed across 40 Ku band transponders, 6 Ka band beams and 10 C band transponders.
Hispasat 30W-6 will provide HISPASAT additional Ku- and C-band capacity in Europe, the Mediterranean and the Americas, reinforce the distribution of audiovisual content in Latin America and provide connectivity in mobile environments. Utilizing the satellite’s Ka-band transponders, Hispasat 30W-6 will enable HISPASAT to expand its broadband service offering in the European region and Northwest Africa.