Launch of heavyweight commercial communications satellite reset for Thursday night [Updated]

Enlarge / SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket stands on Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center before the launch of the Jupiter 3 communications satellite. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann/Ars Technica)

12:30 a.m. EDT Thursday update: SpaceX has scrubbed the Falcon Heavy rocket’s first launch attempt and will try again Thursday night.

The heaviest commercial communications satellite ever built is folded up on top of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket for launch as soon as Thursday night from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

This satellite, owned by EchoStar and built by Maxar, tips the scales at about 9.2 metric tons, or more than 20,000 pounds. SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy will propel the spacecraft on its way toward an operating position in geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator.