☑️ 329th Falcon Family Booster landing, 339th Falcon recovery attempt
Mission and payload info
First communication geostationary satellite built in Turkey. (Some payloads are Canadian)
Türksat 6A is a satellite that will provide data relay for civil and military communications to the Anatolian peninsula as well as most of the European continent, the Middle East, and the westernmost part of the Russian federation.
The satellite is equipped with 16(+4) Ku-band and 2(+1) X-band transponders.
Targeting a Falcon 9 launch of the @Turksat 6A mission from Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida today. Weather is currently 30% favorable during the four-hour launch window that opens at 5:21 p.m. ET.
It's interesting that we're launching comm says that have Russia explicitly as part of their target market. I realize that the latitudes make sense, but wouldn't there be any sort of embargo here?
Yeah, that struck me as slightly odd as well, especially as they mention "military communications" as one of the use cases. I guess the U.S. government doesn't block the launch because it is a Turkish satellite partially servicing Russia, and not a purely Russian satellite? Would be interesting to know more.
All systems are looking good for today’s launch of the @Turksat 6A mission from Florida. Weather conditions have improved for liftoff, and propellant load is underway