SpaceX launched the SXM-10 satellite tv for pc for SiriusXM early on Saturday morning, June 7. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 12:54 a.m. EDT, carrying the 14,100-pound (6,400-kg) spacecraft into an preliminary excessive orbit. About 8.5 minutes later, the rocket’s first stage returned to Earth and touched down safely on SpaceX’s drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” within the Atlantic Ocean. This mission added one other satellite tv for pc to SiriusXM’s geostationary radio constellation and was a part of SpaceX’s very busy launch schedule – it was already the corporate’s 69th Falcon 9 launch of 2025. (SpaceX has devoted dozens of these flights this yr to deploying its personal Starlink web satellites.) SXM-10 is the second new SiriusXM radio satellite tv for pc launched in six months, following SXM-9 in December 2024.

Falcon 9 Rocket Launch and Booster Restoration

In line with a SpaceX mission description, for this flight SpaceX reused a Falcon 9 first-stage booster that had flown many instances earlier than. It was the eighth mission for that specific booster. Amongst its earlier flights had been two astronaut missions (NASA’s Crew-9 and SpaceX’s Crew-3/4 “Fram2”) and a January launch carrying two privately constructed moon landers. After stage separation, the booster guided itself again for a vertical touchdown on the ocean-based droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. This marked the 112th Falcon booster touchdown on that droneship and the 458th booster touchdown general, underscoring SpaceX’s intensive expertise with routinely recovering and reusing its rockets.

SXM-10 Satellite tv for pc and SiriusXM Community

SXM-10 is a heavy communications satellite tv for pc constructed by Maxar Applied sciences beneath contract to SiriusXM. Weighing about 6,400 kg, it’s a part of SiriusXM’s next-generation fleet of radio broadcast satellites. (SXM-10 is a third-generation design, utilizing Maxar’s confirmed 1300-series satellite tv for pc bus.) As soon as in its last geostationary orbit, SXM-10 will be a part of SiriusXM’s constellation of audio satellites, enabling the corporate to beam a whole bunch of radio channels (music, information and discuss programming) to subscribers throughout North America.

The profitable launch means SiriusXM can proceed increasing and refreshing its space-based infrastructure – SXM-10 follows SXM-9 from December 2024 and extra satellites (SXM-11 and SXM-12) are already deliberate – making certain the radio community stays sturdy and updated.