Reside protection: SpaceX to launch 7.5-ton SiriusXM satellite tv for pc as a part of constellation refresh – Spaceflight Now

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled for launch Sunday carrying a multi-ton, radio-broadcasting satellite tv for pc for SiriusXM’s to exchange two growing older satellites in geostationary Earth orbit.

Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force 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 may have stay protection starting about an hour previous to liftoff.



The forty fifth Weather Squadron forecast an 80 % probability for favorable climate on the opening of the launch window that improves to 90 % as time goes on. Meteorologists are anticipating interference from cumulus and anvil clouds.

“Flow aloft will be weak and variable, supporting daily storm motions that will be seabreeze and outflow dependent. This erratic nature of storm motion is more evident in today’s model runs, suggesting a higher risk of storms lingering closer to the coast later into the night,” launch climate officers wrote. “However, remnant storms and clouds should slowly diminish as the night wears on during both the primary and backup launch opportunities.”

SpaceX will launch the mission utilizing its Falcon 9 booster with the tail quantity B1085. This might be its seventeenth flight having beforehand launched NASA’s Crew-9, RRT-1 for the U.S. Space Force, 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

A little bit 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), might be deployed from the Falcon 9 rocket’s higher stage slightly greater than half an hour after launch.

It was manufactured by Lanteris Space Systems, a subsidiary of Texas-based Intuitive Machines. The firm, previously branded as Maxar Space Systems, was acquired by Intuitive Machines in January 2026 for about $800 million.

The SXM-11 and SXM-12 satellites have been constructed to exchange 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 set to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and begin its journey to orbit,” SiriusXM wrote on its LinkedIn web page. “As the most powerful high-powered satellite in SiriusXM’s fleet, SXM-11 will help enhance signal reception, expand coverage in Alaska, and support the delivery of audio entertainment and information services across the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean.”

The 230-foot-tall (70.1 m) satellite tv for pc is predicated on the IM-1300 satellite tv for pc bus. With its photo voltaic panels prolonged, the spacecraft spans 106 ft (32.3 m).

SiriusXM stated about 60 % 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 response to a monetary disclosure from SiriusXM to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).