SpaceX launches powerful satellite to orbit for Indonesian telecom company

SpaceX continued its busy 2025 tonight (Sept. 11), sending a satellite high above Earth for an Indonesian telecom company.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Nusantara Lima satellite lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 9:56 p.m. EDT (0156 GMT on Sept. 12), after being grounded for three days by bad weather.

The rocket's first stage returned to Earth as planned about 8.5 minutes later, touching down on the SpaceX drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas," which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

It was the 23rd launch and landing for this particular booster (which is known by the designation 1078), according to a SpaceX mission description. That's seven short of the company's reflight record, which was set late last month on a launch of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites.

The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, continued carrying Nusantara Lima skyward. The satellite was deployed into geosynchronous transfer orbit on schedule, 27.5 minutes after liftoff.

The satellite, which was built by Boeing, will set up shop in geosynchronous orbit (GEO), 22,236 miles (35,785 kilometers) above Earth. Orbital speed matches Earth's rotational speed at that altitude, allowing spacecraft to "hover" over one patch of the planet. GEO is therefore a popular orbit for communications, weather and reconnaissance spacecraft.

Nusantara Lima is expected to start work in 2026 after completing a series of checkouts. PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN), Indonesia's first satellite-based private telecom company, will use the spacecraft to beam service to customers across Indonesia's 17,000 islands, as well as in neighboring countries.

"Indonesia was one of the first nations to adopt satellite communications to connect its citizens, and Nusantara Lima continues that legacy," Adi Rahman Adiwoso, CEO of PSN Group, said in a Boeing statement last month.

"This satellite will empower communities, schools, and businesses that have never had reliable access before," Adiwoso added. Nusantara Lima, "with the capacity of more than 160 Gbps, will strengthen our capability to provide national capacity for our nation[al] needs. Our partnership with Boeing and our global technology partners is about making sure no one is left behind as Indonesia grows."

Tonight's launch was the 114th Falcon 9 mission of 2025. More than 70% of these flights have been dedicated to building out the Starlink megaconstellation in low Earth orbit, which consists of more than 8,300 operational satellites and is growing all the time.

SpaceX has also launched four other missions so far this year. They were test flights of its next-generation Starship megarocket, which the company is developing to help humanity settle Mars, among other goals. The most recent Starship launch occurred on Aug. 26 and was a complete success, according to SpaceX.