With an ever-increasing demand for internet access, EchoStar launched a powerful new communications satellite late Friday atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket that will deliver broadband service across nearly 80% of North and South America.
With an ever-increasing demand for internet access, EchoStar launched a powerful new communications satellite late Friday atop athat will deliver broadband service across nearly 80% of North and South America.
Generating more than 5 million pounds of thrust, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket thunders away from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, boosting a powerful EchoStar internet relay satellite into space.
Tipping the scales at more than nine tons, Jupiter 3, also known as EchoStar 24, is believed to be the heaviest commercial communications satellite ever launched. With solar panels stretching 127 feet from tip to tip, the bus-size satellite will provide broadband service through EchoStar's subsidiary, Hughes Network Systems. Xplorenet Communications, a long-time Hughes partner, will provide service across Canada.
"A geostationary satellite is proven, it's time-tested and they're great at laying down dense broadband capacity right where our customers need it the most," Sharyn Nerenberg, EchoStar vice president of corporate communications, told Spaceflight Now. "Deploying these very small, densely concentrated spot beams allows us to target capacity in the specific areas where our customers need it most," according to EchoStar's web site.
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