SpaceX launches latest broadcast satellite for SiriusXM on Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center

With a Thursday late morning liftoff, SpaceX sent the latest satellite in the radio broadcast fleet owned by SiriusXM on geostationary transfer orbit trajectory.

The SXM-9 satellite lifted off on a Falcon 9 rocket off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at the opening of the 90-minute launch window at 11:10 a.m. EST (1610 UTC).

The Falcon 9 first stage booster for this mission, tail number B1076 in the SpaceX fleet, launched for a 19th time. It previously supported the launches of CRS-26, Intelsat IS-40e, Ovzon 3 and 10 previous Starlink missions.

Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1076 touched down on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Just Read the Instructions.’ This marked the 101st booster landing on JRTI and the 379 booster landing to date.

Maxar Technologies (NSYE: MAXR) is once again the satellite manufacturer behind the SXM-9 satellite. The company has built satellites for SiriusXM (NASDAQ: SIRI) going back to 2000 when it manufactured the first-generation Sirius satellites.

SXM-9 is built on Maxar’s1300 series bus as part of a deal that was announced by Maxar back in August 2021.

“Maxar’s 1300-class platform has served as a reliable spacecraft platform for decades, and we’re glad to see SiriusXM will rely on its performance once again,” said Robert Curbeam, Maxar Senior Vice President of Space Capture, in a 2021 statement. “We’re looking forward to continuing our decades-long relationship with SiriusXM.”

This was the second satellite launched for SiriusXM since the on-orbit failure of SXM-7, which launched back in December 2020. The roughly 8.2-meter-tall (27 ft), 7,000 kg (15,432 lb) SXM-8 launched in June 2021 and completed on-orbit testing a month later.

SXM-9 has the same dimensions and features a 9 m (29.5 ft) diameter unfurl able reflector antenna, which was manufactured by L3Harris Technologies. L3Harris was also tapped to add its antenna to the forthcoming SXM-10 satellite as well.