On Friday, January 3, SpaceX launched its first Falcon 9 mission of 2025 at 8:27 p.m. EST (0127 GMT). The rocket took off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, launching the Thuraya 4 telecommunications satellite into geosynchronous orbit.
This would be a vehicle designed by a UAE-based firm, Space42, that caters to offering mobile communications from Europe to the Middle East, and Africa, to both commercial clients and governments, with mission-critical services through its satellite operations. Thuraya 4 includes some AI-infused features noted by Ali Al Hashemi, CEO of Yahsat Space Services, which serves as one of the major partner firms in this operation.
About eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster of Falcon 9 landed successfully on SpaceX’s droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. This was the booster’s 20th flight and recovery, adding to SpaceX’s impressive tally of 341 orbital-class rocket recoveries.
This is the third launch of this booster, which had launched some very high-profile missions previously, such as the ill-fated space Hakuto-R lunar lander, an International Space Station resupply mission, and several batches of Starlink satellites.
The Thuraya 4 satellite separated from the rocket’s second stage about 35 minutes into the flight, entering geostationary transfer orbit. From there it will raise the position to Geosynchronous, where it would provide seamless service in communication.
The Thuraya 4 was SpaceX’s mission 418 via Falcon 9 and its 435 total mission. At this point, the company has more than more than 130 launches in the year 2024 and expects to do so much better by 2025.
Successful Launch These satellites marked the success that space technology can be developed parallelly with being able to cope with the increasing worldwide expectations of proper satellite communications.
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