The year of orbital launches in Florida began just as it ended in 2023 with the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The main launch vehicle carried a communications satellite from Sweden-based Offzon. The rocket’s liftoff took place at the beginning of a 10-minute launch window that began at 6:04 p.m. ET (23:04 UTC). It was the second Falcon 9 flight in less than 24 hours, following the launch of 21 Starlink satellites from California late Tuesday.
The mission placed the Ovzon-3 satellite into geostationary orbit, making it Sweden’s first privately funded satellite to be launched.
Spaceflight Now will be broadcast live with commentary from the cape approximately one hour before launch.
“Sweden has a strong history in the satellite sector, but this is a first for Sweden and I think that’s something we’re very proud of,” said Christopher Alm, Chief Marketing Officer at Ovzon. said. “And I think Sweden is a very strong base to continue our development.”
After Wednesday’s launch, the satellite will spend the next three months reaching orbital slot 59.7 East. Once there, Ovzon will begin a full-scale test campaign. Plans are for the satellite to be fully operational by mid-2024.
“The good thing is, we’re not done yet. We’ll continue to add features,” Alm said. “Obviously, some of those features will be customer-driven, but some of them are on the roadmap so we’ll do them.”
At its core, the Ovzon-3 satellite is designed for critical missions with so-called near-peer capabilities. Arum said the idea is for the satellite to be able to operate independently of the terrestrial part of the architecture and to withstand jamming and other intrusive operations.
![](http://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Ovzon-3-satellite-render.jpg)
The satellite features five steerable spot beams that can be positioned to provide maximum user capacity and works in conjunction with Ovzon’s suite of satellite terminals.
“Defense is our main target market. Defense is where we’ve had the most success, but we’re starting to expand. We have national security and public safety,” Alm said. he said. “So we have fire and rescue operations and similar operations in Italy and other parts of Europe that need mobile terminals, rugged terminals. They need services that can be activated quickly. ”
“And that’s another part of our advantage that we have a full-service chain. So we can basically activate and deploy the network within 24 hours,” Alm said. I added.
Responding to evolving challenges
Ovzon was founded in 2006 to provide a service that leases space in orbit using ground terminals. One of the company’s major customers to date has been the US Department of Defense.
As the years went by, Alm said, Ovzon’s leaders decided that having its own satellites was important to expand the company’s capabilities and provide new services to government customers within the European market. Stated.
“We’ve always been a Swedish company with a US customer base, and now we’re a Swedish company with a US and European customer base. I think that’s really exciting,” Alm said.
![](http://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Ovzon-T7-terminal.jpg)
Arum pointed to the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine as an evolutionary moment in that the international community is placing greater value on the vital communication of its population. He said the market is more ready for this type of service now than it was just two years ago.
“One of the things that happened when the Russians entered Ukraine was that they jammed satellite communications. And how did they do it? Well, they knocked out the ground part,” Alm said. said. “Our satellites can work without a ground segment. So when we tell our customers that, they’re like, ‘Ah.'”
“So they’re studying what’s going on there, and we can provide capabilities to address it,” Alm added. And that means that the story we are presenting is now very relevant to many European customers. ”
worth the wait
The debut of Offzon’s first satellite will be Sweden’s first privately funded satellite, but it has also faced headwinds. A combination of production delays and the coronavirus pandemic caused the satellite to fall significantly behind schedule, with an estimated cost of about 2 billion Swedish kronor (equivalent to about $195 million) to launch. It was originally scheduled to be launched on an Ariane 5, but it would not be ready for flight until after Europe’s workhorse rockets were retired.
Despite the struggles, Arum said they have received strong support from financial backers to get started.
“Of course, expectations were high and now [ready to launch] They’re going to go even higher, but I think we see that as a challenge and we’re ready to accept it,” Arum said. “Obviously it’s up to us to deliver now and we’ve been given the tools to continue the growth we’ve had so I think that’s part of the fun of what’s to come.
![](http://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Ovzon-3-Maxar-SS.jpg)
The beginning of an important year
SpaceX is looking forward to a historically busy year for the company with the launch of its Ovzon-3 satellite. The mission will be SpaceX’s second orbital launch in 2024 and its first launch this year to paying customers.
The first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1076, is on its 10th flight to date and is scheduled to return to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 1 approximately eight minutes after liftoff.
The mission is a busy one for SpaceX, highlighted by the launch of two crewed missions to the International Space Station, the launch of the Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft to the ISS, and the moon-bound mission with Intuitive Machines’ Nova. It’s the start of a few months. -C Lander.
In a statement to X (formerly Twitter), Kiko Donchev, SpaceX’s vice president of launch, reiterated the company’s goal of 144 launches by the end of the year.
“The launch system (pad, recovery, flight hardware) is 13 [per] “This is so that we can play catch-up when scheduled maintenance, blunders, or weather inevitably delay work,” he wrote.
The goal is to launch 144 times (12 times a month) in 2024. The launch system (pad, recovery, flight hardware) must be capable of 13 times a month. That way, you can catch up when scheduled maintenance, failures, or weather inevitably delay your work.
— Kiko Donchev (@TurkeyBeaver) January 3, 2024