The big Mars rocket, which Elon Musk calls Starship, has been identified as one of the vehicles of choice to take NASA astronauts to the Moon surface at the end of the next 10 years as part of the Artemis program, but SpaceX is also making deals with customers for earlier missions.
Japan’s Sky Perfect JSAT Group has signed a contract with SpaceX to launch the Superbird-9 broadcast and broadband satellite with Starship in 2024.
The Tokyo-based satellite operator said in a statement that “SKY Perfect JSAT and SpaceX will continue to work together before the launch of the Superbird-9 Satellite,” and no further details were given about the agreement.
SpaceX confirmed the deal in a tweet last week.
SKY Perfect JSAT has selected Starship for launch of its Superbird-9 communications satellite! https://t.co/sFZssT3omn pic.twitter.com/KDatzuWXaG
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 19, 2022
In addition to Musk’s ambitious goals of using Starship to send humans to the Moon and Mars in the coming years, SpaceX hopes to shift more satellite launches to Starship, including its own Starlink broadband satellites.
For the past 10 years the Falcon 9 rocket has been the main force of choice for SpaceX missions, but Starship is designed to carry significantly larger payloads.
Starship has not yet left the atmosphere. The first orbital test flight is expected in the coming months, after the Federal Aviation Administration issues the launch license. The demonstration mission will include a soft water landing on the Hawaiian coast after the Starship is launched onto a Super Heavy booster for a short trip to orbit.
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