SpaceX is preparing to launch a Swedish broadband satellite tonight (January 3) on the company’s second mission of 2024, and you can watch it live. Rocket hawk 9 The Ovzon 3 satellite is scheduled to lift off from the Florida Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral tonight in a 10-minute window that will open at 6:04 pm ET (23:04 GMT).

You can watch live in the window above, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly from the company’s account on X. According to SpaceX’s mission statement, the broadcast will begin approximately 15 minutes before the launch window opens.

If all goes as planned, Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth tonight and touch down at Cape Canaveral eight minutes after liftoff. According to SpaceX’s mission statement, this will be the 10th launch and landing of this particular launch vehicle.

Meanwhile, Falcon 9’s upper stage will continue to carry Ovzon 3 into the sky, eventually placing the spacecraft into geosynchronous orbit approximately 38.5 minutes after launch.

EverydayAstronaut.com writes that Ovzon 3 is “Sweden’s first privately financed geostationary satellite.” “This is a communications satellite that will cover 1/3 of the Earth using steerable spot beams and meet the demand for better mobile broadband coverage in underserved areas.”

Geostationary orbit is located approximately 22,200 miles (35,700 kilometers) above Earth. At this altitude, the orbital speed corresponds to the rotation speed of our planet, which allows the satellites to constantly “hang” over the same area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe earth.

Today’s launch will be the second launch for SpaceX in 2024. The company launched 21 of its Starlink Internet satellites, including the first six direct communications spacecraft, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California yesterday (January 2). There will be many more launches in the future: SpaceX officials said the company plans to launch 144 orbital missions this year. This will break the record of 96 set by SpaceX in 2023.