CAPE CANAVERAL- Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, will attempt its second launch of the year this month, as it ramps up production of its Falcon 9 rockets to handle more than $8 billion of business for NASA and commercial companies, officials said. The next SpaceX launch is scheduled for Feb. 24, its customer, SES SA, a Luxembourg-based satellite communications operator, said on Monday. 'SpaceX is currently completing an extended series of testing and pre-flight validation,' SES said in a statement. The rocket will be carrying the 11,700-pound (5,300-kg) Boeing-built SES-9 communications satellite. SpaceX declined to comment on the launch. But the Hawthorne, California-based company, owned and operated by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, has said it hopes to fire off more than a dozen Falcon 9 rockets this year, as well as debut a new heavy-lift booster and a third launch US launch pad.
