SpaceX 1st commercial satellite launch postponed

The launch of an unmanned Falcon 9 rocket developed by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, that was poised to enter the commercial satellite market on Monday, has been postponed.

A SpaceX official said during a live stream that the launch countdown was stopped with just under four minutes to go while some data from the rocket was being analyzed.

SpaceX tweeted that a new launch attempt is being planned for 5:38 p.m. ET on Thursday.

Following a successful debut test fight on Sept. 29, the privately owned firm's upgraded Falcon 9 rocket had been due to lift off around 6:30 p.m. ET from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch is a potential game-changer in a global industry worth nearly $190 billion a year.

Perched on top of the rocket is a 2,900 kg communications satellite owned by Luxembourg-based SES S.A. , which currently operates a 54-satellite fleet, the world's second-largest.

The satellite, known as SES-8 and worth about $100 million, will be positioned to provide television, cable, broadband and other services to customers in India, China, Vietnam and other markets in Asia.

"It's an extremely important satellite for us," Martin Halliwell, chief technology officer of SES, told reporters on Sunday in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

"We know that as we go forward into these very significant growth markets that it's absolutely critical that we have a cost-effective and efficient way to get to orbit. That's really what SpaceX has brought us," Halliwell said.

Previous SES satellites were launched primarily aboard Russian Proton and European Ariane rockets, which cost far more than the approximately $55 million the company paid for its ride on SpaceX's Falcon booster, Halliwell said.

He would not say exactly how much SpaceX undercut the competition, but did say SES got a bit of a discount by agreeing to fly on Falcon 9's first mission to the high altitudes that communication satellites require.

In addition to the upgraded Falcon 9's test flight in September, older versions of the rocket previously flew five times successfully, including three missions for NASA to deliver cargo to the International Space Station, which flies about 250 miles (about 400 km) above Earth.

Quarter of the way to the moon

SpaceX is  aiming will aim to put SES-8 into an elliptical orbit that reaches more than 80,000 km from Earth, about a quarter of the way to the moon.

That altitude requires less fuel for SES-8 to fly itself into its 36,000-km high operational orbit, thereby extending its service life.

SpaceX hoped to demonstrate its ability to fire up the Falcon 9's upper-stage engine twice during the September test flight, but that did not work. Engineers later realized that liquid oxygen, used for chilling, had come into contact with the motor's igniter lines, causing them to freeze.

"It was not a complicated issue to fix. Obviously, we were glad we caught it on a mission where we were only demonstrating that second burn, as opposed to one where we have to get it done," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told reporters during a prelaunch conference call.

The company needs three successful launches of its upgraded Falcon rocket before it will be eligible to compete to carry the U.S. military's largest and most expensive satellites, a market now monopolized by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

"There's always some risk associated with the flight not working. So we're very appreciative that SES would place a bet on SpaceX," added Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and chief executive.

SES has options for three more Falcon flights, including one on the firm's heavy-lift rocket that is under development and expected to debut next year.

SpaceX's launch manifest includes nearly 50 other launches, worth about $4 billion. About 75 per cent of the flights are for commercial customers.

"Our prices are the most competitive of any in the world," Musk said. "We will force other rocket companies to either develop new technology that's a lot better or they have to exit the launch market."

Halliwell said SpaceX competitors were "shaking in their shoes."

"There are a lot of people who hope that SpaceX is going to fail," he said. "This is really rocking the industry."

The global satellite industry had revenues of nearly $190 billion in 2012, including nearly $90 billion in television services alone, the Satellite Industry Association trade group reported in October. The U.S. share of the market is 45 per cent, the report said.