SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket has conducted its second flight on Thursday, April 11, carrying its first customer payload: the Arabsat-6A communications satellite into space.
The Falcon-Heavy rocket was launched at 22:35 (GMT) from Cape Canaveral in Florida with Arabsat-6A to be placed in the orbit of 30.5 degrees East.
Arabsat-6A is a high-capacity telecommunications satellite that will deliver television, radio, internet, and mobile communications to customers in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. Built on Lockheed Martin’s enhanced LM 2100 platform, Arabsat-6A includes several innovations that provide advanced Ka- spot beam communications services and Ku and Ka-band coverages in addition to other frequency bands.
“We are thankful for 6A satellite launch success as it was challenging for us and SpaceX because it is the first largest and heaviest satellite lifted by SpaceX on the most powerful rocket in operation today, the Falcon Heavy, which was designed specifically to launch such a load commercially, that is why this launch is considered a momentous leap in the field of commercial satellites manufacturing and launching,” said Khaled bin Ahmed Balkheyour president and CEO of Arabsat.
