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Watch: SiriusXM listeners prepare for a signal boost! SpaceX Falcon 9 set to launch radio satellite

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Published  December 5, 2024 11:02am EST
SpaceX
FOX 35 Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla. - SiriusXM radio listeners can expect a signal upgrade as SpaceX prepares to launch it's 10th radio satellite for the company.

SpaceX is scheduled to launch the SXM-9 satellite on Thursday with a 90-minute launch window opening at 11:10 a.m. 

spacex falcon 9 rocket

Photo courtesy of SpaceX

The 10th high-powered, digital and audio radio satellite was built by SSL, a manufacturing subsidiary of Maxar Technologies.

"The SXM-9 satellite consists of a large mesh unfurlable reflector almost 10 meters in diameter that allows SiriusXM programming to reach its radios, including those in moving vehicles", according to The Kennedy Space Center.

This will be the third of the company's satellites to ride a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to orbit.

Take-off!

Credit: SpaceX

This launch will be this Falcon 9 rocket's first-stage booster, B1076's, 19th satellite launching mission.

After stage separation, B1076 should land on the droneship located in the Atlantic Ocean. 

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The last SiriusXM satellite mission happened in 2021, launching SXM-8. SXM-7, launched the previous year in 2020.

Both SXM-7 and SXM-8 replaced XM-3 and XM-4, a pair of aging Sirius satellites.

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