Falcon 9 Ovzon 3 mission: SpaceX launches Swedish Ovzon 3 satellite

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Ovzon 3 satellite lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station tonight at 2304 UTC, on Jan. 3. The Falcon 9's first stage returned to Earth, touching down back at Cape Canaveral about eight minutes after liftoff. It was the 10th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Ovzon 3 is the first privately funded and developed Swedish geostationary satellite. It is a communications satellite which will cover 1/3 of the Earth via its steerable spot beams, meeting the demand for better mobile broadband coverage in under-served regions. Geostationary orbit lies about 35,700 kilometers above Earth. At this altitude, orbital speed matches our planet's rotational speed, allowing satellites to "hover" over the same patch of ground continuously.