SpaceX Starship’s first satellite launch contract revealed
SpaceX’s Starship has been chosen as the launch vehicle for a Japanese satellite, one of the first publicly disclosed commercial payloads for Elon Musk’s newest rocket.
The Superbird-9 is scheduled to be launched in 2024 to deliver broadcast and broadband signals primarily over Japan and Eastern Asia, Sky Perfect JSAT Holdings Inc. said Thursday in a statement.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s Starship rocket is designed to be a reusable, multipurpose vehicle for carrying passengers, cargo and fuel.
Last year, NASA awarded a contract for a lunar landing mission by Starship, and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Musk eventually aspires to use it to take humans to Mars.
The massive craft, which consists of a booster stage and second-stage spaceship, has yet to fly an orbital test flight.
SpaceX said in May that Starship would conduct such a flight from Texas in June or July, but that has yet to happen. A booster rocket for the program caught fire during a test last month, appearing to cause “minor” damage, Musk said.
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