SpaceX has launched the Amazonas Nexus satellite for Spanish communications company Hispasat, which is also carrying payloads for Greenland and the United States Space Force.
The Amazonas Nexus launched Monday, Feb. 6 at 8:32 p.m. from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It was the sixth launch and landing for the Falcon 9 first-stage booster that was used.
A video shared by Twitter user @KEllisFoster shows the launch from Satellite Beach, Fla., with the rocket glowing brightly against the night sky.
Hispasats Amazonas Nexus satellite will provide internet connectivity in all of the Americas, Greenland, and Atlantic Ocean Maritime and flight corridors. The satellite is designed in particular to provide communications to airplanes and ships.
The satellite is hosting the Greensat payload for Tusass, Greenlands national communications company. It will provide service to remote towns in northern and eastern Greenland, as well as remote businesses such as mining operations.
Amazonas Nexus is also carrying the U.S. Space Force Space and Missile Systems Centers Pathfinder 2 payload. The USSF tweeted Saturday that the Pathfinder 2 launch represents “a new era for commercial satellite communication services for the US and our allies.”
The next-generation satellite was built by Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between French company Thales and Italian company Leonardo, on its Spacebus NEO platform. It features electric propulsion and two deployable solar arrays.
It features a state-of-the-art Digital Transparent Processor, which allows “one-hop communications throughout its coverage area,” for maximum flexibility. Its a high-throughput satellite that combines the Ku and Ka bands to increase capacity.
Hispasat said it is the first satellite operator in the world to offset the carbon footprint of the entire launch process by planting a forest through Grupo Sylvestris.
