The planned 5:37 p.m. liftoff would be the company's first of an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket from Florida, after a test launch in California, and the first launch of a commercial communications satellite from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in four years.
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The Falcon 9 has sent several spacecraft to the International Space Station about 250 miles up, but never placed a communications satellite in the orbit where they operate more than 22,000 miles above the equator.
Monday's launch for Luxembourg-based SES, one of the world's largest operators of communications satellites with 54 already in orbit, could establish SpaceX as a lower-cost player able to recapture commercial launches all but lost to overseas competitors.
"Let me put this very clearly and maybe not too dramatically: The entry of SpaceX into the commercial market is a game-changer," said Martin Halliwell, chief technology officer for SES. "It's going to really shake the industry to its roots."
SpaceX, for its part, is grateful SES took a chance on being the Falcon 9's first customer to a geostationary orbit, where satellites match the speed of Earth's rotation and so appear from the ground to stay in a fixed location.
"This launch is obviously very important to the future of SpaceX," CEO Elon Musk told reporters at a pre-launch reception Sunday. "We're very appreciative that SES would place a bet on SpaceX here."
Earlier on Twitter, Musk said the upcoming flight "will be toughest mission to date."
The launch of the SES-8 satellite will be the second flight of the upgraded Falcon 9, known as "version 1.1," which stands 224 feet tall and fires Merlin engines that generate 1.3 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, among other changes.
A Sept. 29 test flight in California completed its mission, but an optional restart of the rocket's upper stage engine — a maneuver necessary for this mission — failed.
SpaceX determined that an igniter line froze, and believes added insulation will prevent a repeat.
Musk and Halliwell both expressed strong confidence that the problem has been resolved.
"There's no stone that hasn't been turned over at least twice to maximize the possibility of success," said Musk, noting there is still risk given the rocket is launching for just the second time. "The rest will be up to fate."
Unlike
the flight in California, SpaceX will not attempt to recover the Falcon
9 booster. With the help of a ship in the Atlantic, data on the
booster's atmospheric re-entry will be collected to support future
recovery attempts, possibly as soon as the next launch from Cape
Canaveral, planned before Christmas.
SES would not disclose the cost of this launch, but said it is receiving a discount as the first to go with Falcon 9 for this type of mission, which SpaceX advertises online for $56.5 million.
Halliwell said SpaceX's lower costs were enabling SES to pursue emerging markets that require complex satellites to provide a variety of services, including TV channels and broadband Internet, but generate lower revenues than more developed markets.
"If you then put that complex, expensive satellite on top of a very expensive launch vehicle, than the entire business case starts to become unraveled," he said.
The roughly 7,000-pound SES-8 satellite, built by Orbital Sciences Corp., is expected to serve Southeast Asia for at least 15 years, beaming TV channels directly to homes in India, Vietnam and other countries.
It will fly close to another SES-owned satellite, and serve as a bridge to a larger one planned to serve the same region.
"It's an extremely important satellite for us," Halliwell said. "This is a big, big growth market for us."
SES already has three more launches under contract with SpaceX.
Said Halliwell: "I think this is (the) first of many, many successful launches that we're going to have out of the
SES would not disclose the cost of this launch, but said it is receiving a discount as the first to go with Falcon 9 for this type of mission, which SpaceX advertises online for $56.5 million.
Halliwell said SpaceX's lower costs were enabling SES to pursue emerging markets that require complex satellites to provide a variety of services, including TV channels and broadband Internet, but generate lower revenues than more developed markets.
"If you then put that complex, expensive satellite on top of a very expensive launch vehicle, than the entire business case starts to become unraveled," he said.
The roughly 7,000-pound SES-8 satellite, built by Orbital Sciences Corp., is expected to serve Southeast Asia for at least 15 years, beaming TV channels directly to homes in India, Vietnam and other countries.
It will fly close to another SES-owned satellite, and serve as a bridge to a larger one planned to serve the same region.
"It's an extremely important satellite for us," Halliwell said. "This is a big, big growth market for us."
SES already has three more launches under contract with SpaceX.
Said Halliwell: "I think this is (the) first of many, many successful launches that we're going to have out of the
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