ORBCOMM sats moved to Falcon 9


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The ORBCOMM satellite constellation was to be launched using numerous Falcom 1e launches, but SpaceX's de-emphasis of that platform required a switch.

The multiple satellite launches are possible because of Falcon 9's re-startable MVac 2nd stage. This is how the Dragon launch last December was also also capable of deploying 8 other satellites.

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?Based on changed circumstances relating, inter alia, to launch vehicle availability, we have recently revised our next-generation satellite deployment plan,? Orbcomm said in the SEC filing

The first two Orbcomm satellites are scheduled for launch as secondary passengers aboard a Falcon 9 rocket

a second Falcon 9, this time carrying at least eight Orbcomm satellites as the main payload, would be launched nine months later.

A third Falcon 9 rocket carrying the remaining satellites in the constellation would then occur later in 2012.

Orbcomm?s 27 current-generation satellites operate for the most part in an 825-kilometer orbit inclined 45 degrees relative to the equator. Eisenberg said the second generation would be placed into a 52 degree inclination, an orbit that gives better coverage of northern latitudes and will broaden Orbcomm?s offer to the automatic identification system (AIS) maritime surveillance market.

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