A new contract will see a SpaceX launch a Space Systems / Loral (SS/L) satellite aboard a Falcon 9 launch vehicle.
The rocket is expected to launch the satellite from Cape Canaveral, US, by 2012, and place it into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) for SS/L.
Falcon 9 is a medium-to-heavy lift, two-stage launch vehicle that can fly payloads of about 11t to low Earth orbit (LEO) and over 4.5t to GTO.
On a recent static fire test the Falcon 9, which is contracted by Nasa to resupply the International Space Station, suffered a glitch.
