Eutelsat 117 West B & ABS-2A

Mission

Eutelsat 117 West B & ABS-2A

Type: Communications

Eutelsat 117 West B and ABS 2A will be launched atop a Falcon 9 Full Thrust. Both sattelites will be launched into a geostationary orbit to provide communications services. Eutelsat 117 West B with 48 Ku-band transponders in a inclination at 116.8 degrees west will provide communications to Latin American customers in the video telecommunications and government sectors. Also Wide Are Augmentation System (WAAS) payload will enable the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) improve aviation safety for the United States. ABS 2A with 48 Ku-band transponders in a inclination 78 degree orbit east. it will serve Eastern Europe , Russia, Middle East and India. This will be the 26 launch of the Falcon 9 and will attempt a first stage landing on the drone ship Of Course I still Love You.

Location

Space Launch Complex 40

Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

214 rockets have launched from Cape Canaveral, FL, USA.

Rocket

Falcon 9 Full Thrust

Length: 71 meters
Diameter: 3.65 meters
First Launch: December 22, 2015

The Full Thrust variants first stage includes all systems necessary for an operational re-use of stages while the second stage is operated as an expendable rocket stage.

The Falcon 9 Full Thrust rocket has been launched a total of 25 times with 24 successful and 1 failed launches.

Landing

The first stage failed to land on OCISLY off of the East Coast.

Of Course I Still Love You – OCISLY

The second ASDS barge, Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) services launches in the Atlantic Ocean and was the site of the first landing of a SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage during CRS-8, the launch of a Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station.

Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship – ASDS

An autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) is an ocean-going vessel derived from a deck barge, outfitted with station-keeping engines and a large landing platform. Construction of such ships was commissioned by aerospace company SpaceX to allow for recovery of rocket first-stages at sea for high-velocity missions which do not carry enough fuel to return to the launch site after lofting spacecraft onto an orbital trajectory.

Agency

SpaceX

Type: Commercial
Abbreviation: SpX
Administration: CEO: Elon Musk
Founded: 2002
Launchers: Falcon
Spacecraft: Dragon
Country: USA

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX has many pads, on the East Coast of the US they own SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral and LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center for their lower inclination launches. They also own SLC-4E at Vandenberg, California for their high inclination launches. Another site is also being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.