A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled for launch Sunday carrying a multi-ton, radio-broadcasting satellite tv for pc for SiriusXM’s to switch two getting older satellites in geostationary Earth orbit.
Liftoff from House Launch Advanced 40 at Cape Canaveral House Pressure Station is scheduled throughout a virtually four-hour window that opens at 10:25 p.m. EDT (0225 UTC). The rocket will fly on an easterly trajectory upon leaving the launch pad.
Spaceflight Now could have reside protection starting about an hour previous to liftoff.
The forty fifth Climate Squadron forecast an 80 p.c probability for favorable climate on the opening of the launch window that improves to 90 p.c as time goes on. Meteorologists are waiting for interference from cumulus and anvil clouds.
“Stream aloft shall be weak and variable, supporting every day storm motions that shall be seabreeze and outflow dependent. This erratic nature of storm movement is extra evident in right this moment’s mannequin runs, suggesting the next threat of storms lingering nearer to the coast later into the night time,” launch climate officers wrote. “Nevertheless, remnant storms and clouds ought to slowly diminish because the night time wears on throughout each the first and backup launch alternatives.”
SpaceX will launch the mission utilizing its Falcon 9 booster with the tail quantity B1085. This shall be its seventeenth flight having beforehand launched NASA’s Crew-9, RRT-1 for the U.S. House Pressure, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, Fram2, SiriusXM’s SXM-10, the MTG-S1 climate satellite tv for pc for Europe, EchoStar XXV, and 9 Starlink missions
Slightly greater than 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1085 will goal a touchdown on the drone ship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’, stationed within the Atlantic Ocean.
Constellation refresh
The SXM-11 satellite tv for pc, weighing about 15,000 kilos (7.5 tons), shall be deployed from the Falcon 9 rocket’s higher stage just a little greater than half an hour after launch.
It was manufactured by Lanteris House Programs, a subsidiary of Texas-based Intuitive Machines. The corporate, previously branded as Maxar House Programs, was acquired by Intuitive Machines in January 2026 for about $800 million.
The SXM-11 and SXM-12 satellites have been constructed to switch SiriusXM’s XM-5 and the Sirius FM-5 satellites, which launched in 2010 and 2009 respectively.
“After years of planning, engineering, testing, and collaboration, SXM-11 is ready to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and start its journey to orbit,” SiriusXM wrote on its LinkedIn web page. “As essentially the most highly effective high-powered satellite tv for pc in SiriusXM’s fleet, SXM-11 will assist improve sign reception, develop protection in Alaska, and help the supply of audio leisure and data providers throughout the USA, Canada, and the Caribbean.”
The 230-foot-tall (70.1 m) satellite tv for pc relies on the IM-1300 satellite tv for pc bus. With its photo voltaic panels prolonged, the spacecraft spans 106 toes (32.3 m).
SiriusXM mentioned about 60 p.c of the 7.5 ton satellite tv for pc’s mass comes from the gasoline onboard. The final of those satellites, SXM-10, which launched in June 2025, is estimated to stay in service till 2040, in keeping with a monetary disclosure from SiriusXM to the U.S. Securities and Change Fee (SEC).
