SpaceX SES-8 - First GEO Mission - Is about to launch

UPDATE - 11/26: After several holds on the countdown, the launch was scrubbed and is now rescheduled for an attempt on Thursday at 5:38 PM eastern time.

This mission will be the first to demonstrate the Falcon 9's ability to place cargo into geospatial orbit.  GEO (Geospatial Earth Orbit), is an orbit where the inertia of the spacecraft (typically a satellite) balances the pull of Earth's gravity allowing the spacecraft to maintain a fixed position above the Earth.  This allows ground stations on Earth to point antennas at a fixed position.   

So, what's so special about a mission to place payload into GEO?  Primarily the distance of the this orbit.  Previous SpaceX missions (even the missions to the International Space Station) have been to an altitude in a range called Low Earth Orbit (LEO).  LEO is in the range of 160 kilometers (99 miles) to 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles).  Which may seem pretty high, but GEO is more that ten times higher at an a;titude of 35,786 kilometres (22,236 mi).  The difference is illustrated in this image. 

It requires a more powerful rocket in order to get any significant amount of payload into GEO, and for SpaceX that means using the upgraded 1.1 version of the Falcon 9, with the more powerful Merlin 1D engines.  Because of such differences between LEO and GEO capabilities, rocket specifications list the payload capabilities for each.  For the Falcon 9 (v1.1) it is 4,850 kilograms (10,692 pounds) to GEO versus 13,150 kilograms 28,991 (pounds) to LEO.  Meaning a little over a third as much payload can be delivered to GEO as can be delivered to LEO.

So, this will be another important milestone for SpaceX.  It will demonstrate the ability to reach much farther into space, which not only opens up new markets but also forwards the goal of one day landing on Mars.

The launch can be view live at http://new.livestream.com/spacex/SES8.