SpaceX launches direct television satellite for EchoStarMarch 9, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith
(...) A little more than 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1085 landed on the drone ship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas,’ positioned in the Atlantic Ocean. This was the 146th touchdown on this vessel and the 583rd booster landing to date for SpaceX.
The EchoStar 25 satellite deployed from the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket nearly 33 minutes after liftoff. (...)
The satellite is built on Lanteris’ 1300 Series satellite bus, the basis for spacecraft, like NASA’s Psyche probe and Sirius XM’s SXM-10. Dish will use it as a direct broadcast satellite.
EchoStar-25 will operate in the 12.2-12.7 GHz for space-to-Earth communications and 17.3-17.8 GHz for Earth-to-space, according to a filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
This will be the most recent EchoStar satellite to be operated by its subsidiary, Dish, since EchoStar 23, which launched in March 2017. In May 2025, the company ordered the construction of EchoStar-26 from Lanteris, which is expected to launch in 2028.
In September 2025, EchoStar announced it was selling spectrum licenses to SpaceX that it had planned to use for its own direct to mobile service. The $17 billion sale, split evenly between cash and SpaceX stock is awaiting regulatory approval.
“We are disappointed that we were not able to continue with something we built over 17 years,” EchoStar’s CEO Charles Ergen said. “I think that we are also pleased that we have made our bet, and that is with SpaceX and Starlink
The sale will help advance SpaceX’s Direct to Cell Starlink service, recently rebranded to Starlink Mobile. (...)
https://spaceflightnow.com/2026/03/09/live-coverage-spacex-to-launch-direct-television-satellite-for-echostar/