SpaceX is teaming up with progressive satellite operator Telesat for a series of 14 launches starting in 2026.
Each mission will see a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carry as many as 18 Lightspeed web satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO).
The multi-launch collaboration between the 2 corporations was announced on Monday (Sept. 11) and can reap the benefits of the power of SpaceX‘s famously rapid launch cadence. The liftoffs will happen from California and Florida.
Telesat hopes it is going to have the ability to check its Lightspeed constellation — an optically linked network that can provide multiple gigabytes per second of information links and broadband connectivity across the globe — by 2027. The corporate goals to start out providing services that very same yr, after a history of delays experienced by the project.
“SpaceX has been a trusted and effective launch provider to Telesat on our geostationary satellite programs, and I’m delighted that they can be supporting us with their highly reliable Falcon 9 rocket to deploy the Telesat Lightspeed constellation, essentially the most ambitious program in Telesat’s 54-year history,” Telesat President and CEO Dan Goldberg said in an announcement.
The Lightspeed constellation can be populated by around 198 satellites built by international space company MDA, which Telesat ordered in August 2023, Space News reported. The 1,650-pound (750 kilograms) LEO satellites replace a bigger version, which was initially set to be built for Telesat by Thales Alenia Space, but production delays forced the switch to MDA, leading to a $1.6 billion USD contract between Telesat and the Canada-based company.
Telesat had initially planned to start launching its Lightspeed units in 2020 prior to the delay. Goldberg told SpaceNews that he now hopes that MDA will have the ability to create roughly one satellite a day for the constellation starting in September 2024.
Goldberg explained that Telesat has the funding for 156 satellites that can be needed for the Lightspeed constellation to start delivering web services, and it’s currently attempting to get funding for the extra 42 units needed to offer the network with improved signal density.
The 14 Falcon 9 launches can be able to delivering 252 units to orbit at maximum, but the entire variety of satellites that every mission will have the ability to launch will depend upon the angle and inclination of the orbits into which they’re to be deployed.
“Given the dedication and professionalism of the SpaceX team, and their outstanding track record of reliability and demonstrated high launch cadence, I even have the utmost confidence that they can be an impressive partner in helping us bring Telesat Lightspeed into service in a timely and low-risk manner,” Goldberg concluded.
SpaceX already operates its own web constellation, called Starlink, which currently consists of greater than 4,700 operational satellites, all of which were launched by Falcon 9 rockets.