SpaceX successfully launches Arabsat's Badr-8 satellite into orbit.

SpaceX launched the Badr-8 satellite for Saudi Arabia-based fleet operator Arabsat, equipped with a jamming-resistant optical communications payload demonstrator. The satellite is designed to replace and expand Arabsat’s C-band and Ku-band capacity across Europe, Middle East, Africa, and central Asia over its 15-year design life. Badr-8 also carries an experimental photonics feeder link called Teleo, which Airbus developed with support from France’s space agency. The satellite will take several months to reach its 26 degrees east orbital slot, where it would replace Arabsat’s 15-year-old Badr-6 satellite.