Q&A with Martin Halliwell, chief technology officer at SES

SpaceX launched Argentina’s SAOCOM 1B radar observation satellite from Cape Canaveral at 7:18 p.m. EDT (2318 GMT) Sunday. A Falcon 9 rocket headed toward the south on a trajectory hugging the Florida East Coast on the first flight into polar orbit from Cape Canaveral since 1969, and the first stage booster returned to the spaceport for an onshore landing minutes after liftoff.

SpaceX’s plan to send a Dragon capsule to Mars in 2018 will be the first in a sequence of unmanned commercial missions to the rust-colored world before the first voyage with humans as soon as 2024, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said Wednesday.

SpaceX has launched its fourth Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Space Coast in less than 16 days. A Falcon 9 rocket blasted off with 60 more Starlink internet satellites at 2:42 a.m. EDT (0642 GMT) Sunday. The reusable booster, making its 10th flight, landed on a drone ship parked in the Atlantic Ocean.