SXM-8 radio satellite | Prelaunch Preview of SpaceX's next mission

When, Where and for what they gonna launch it??

Name: SXM-8

Payload: SXM-8 radio satellite

Launch provider: SpaceX

Customer: SiriusXM Satellite Radio

Launch Vehicle: Falcon 9 Block 5

Date and time (subject to change): Sunday, June 6, 2021 9:56 AM IST(GMT +05:30)

Launch Site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA

Orbit of the satellite: GEO

Other stuff: 

  -  51st orbital launch attempt in 2021

  -  SpaceX's 130th mission

  -  Falcon 9's 122nd mission

  -  It will be the 87th successful recovery of  Falcon 9's first stage if they landed it safely

Ok, then what is "SXM-8"??

SXM-8 or SiriusXM-8 is a radio satellite built by SSL for Sirius XM and it weighs approximately 7000kg. The previous satellite SXM-7 was failed to operate in orbit after six weeks. SXM-8 is their next satellite as a replacement of the XM-4 satellite. It has S-Band transponders for communication and it uses 2 deployable solar arrays for power and uses R-4D-15 HiPAT, 4 × SPT-100 plasma thrusters for propulsion. When the satellite reached its orbit, it will deploy a large antenna reflector, which will enable broadcasts to mobile radios. The expected lifetime of the satellite is 15 years or longer.

What about the Rocket??

The payload will reach its destination by SpaceX's Falcon 9 Rocket. It is a two-stage partially reusable medium-lift launch vehicle. The first stage of Falcon 9 is designed to land in the Dron ship after the stage separation for reusing it for the next flight. Reusability allows SpaceX to refly the first stage of the rocket, which in turn drives down the cost of space access. Both the stages of Falcon 9 uses Merlin engines(9 Merlins in the first stage and 1 Vaccum optimized Merlin engine in the second stage) which are designed and manufactured by SpaceX. Merlin is a gas generator cycle (or open cycle) engine and powered by RP-1(rocket grade kerosene) and Liquid oxygen. The first stage produces more than 7.5 million newtons of thrust. Aluminum-lithium alloy tanks are used for storing propellants. For more info about Merlin engines, you can check out our another blog "Wondrous SpaceX's Merlin engine". The second-stage engine ignites a few seconds after stage separation and produces 981k newtons of thrust. It can be restarted multiple times to place multiple payloads into different orbits. The payloads are protected by the fairing on their way to orbit. The fairing is made up of carbon composite material and it will be jettisoned approximately 3 minutes into flight, and SpaceX continues to recover fairings for reuse on future missions.

HEIGHT - 70m

DIAMETER - 3.7m 

STAGES - 2 Stages

MASS - 549,054 kg

PAYLOAD TO LEO - 22,800 kg

PAYLOAD TO GTO - 8,300 kg

PROPELLANT - LOX / Kerosene

FAIRING HEIGHT - 13.1m

FAIRING DIAMETER - 5.2m

From where I can see the launch?

You can see the launch through SpaceX's Livestream:

1) SpaceX

2) SpaceX's Youtube channel