SpaceX Falcon 9 Orbit Record 143 Satellites In Carpool Mission

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled a record 143 small satellites into polar orbit on Sunday as part of the company’s first dedicated ‘carpool’ mission, a response to growing demand for low-cost space access by small businesses and non-traditional institutions.

The “Transporter 1” mission also recalled the ongoing debate on the role the government should play in regulating the increasingly congested area of ​​low earth orbit where collisions would create threatening high speed shrapnel. other spaceships.

“There is no universally accepted ‘rules of the road’ for the safety of space operations, let alone a regulatory regime for active risk management and collision prevention,” the Aerospace Safety Advisory Group wrote. from NASA in its recently released 2020 Annual Report.

“As the potential for orbital collisions increases with increasing congestion, it is important to recognize that the risks to astronauts, critical national security capabilities, and global space commerce are also increasing.”

Running a day late Due to inclement weather, Transporter 1’s mission began with a ground-shaking roar at 10 a.m. ET as Falcon 9 took off from Cape Canaveral and moved away on a rare southeastward trajectory to a high orbit of 326 miles around the poles of the Earth.

After propelling the rocket out of the lower atmosphere, the first stage, on its fifth flight, fell and flew away to a targeted landing on an off-shore drone southeast of Miami. It was SpaceX’s 73rd successful booster recovery and the 51st at sea.

The 143 satellites atop the second stage were the most launched by a single rocket, eclipsing the previous mark of 104 satellites established by the Indian polar satellite launcher in February 2017.

“I am delighted to offer low cost orbit access to small businesses!” SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted on Friday.

SpaceX charges a relatively low $ 1 million to launch a 440-pound satellite and $ 5,000 for every 2.2 pounds above that base level. The company says Transporter’s assignments will be carried out every four months or so, as needed.

Sunday’s flight featured an assortment of CubeSats, nanosats and other small spaceships provided by several companies and institutions.

The manifesto included 10 of SpaceX’s Starlink Internet relay stations, bringing the total launched to date to 1,025, 48 SuperDove earth imaging satellites built by Planet and a wide variety of “small satellites” dedicated to commercial applications, technology development. and scientific research. and education.

The Celestis memorial spaceflight company sent cremains in the air in small containers representing 114 “participants,” including the ashes of the late CBS News Radio correspondent Dave Barrett, a lifelong space enthusiast.

Carpool flights are a recent business innovation giving businesses and institutions relatively quick and affordable access to space they might not otherwise be able to get.

But critics fear that the rapid increase in the number of satellites, in the absence of government regulation and control, could translate into an increased threat of potentially catastrophic collisions.

The Aerospace Safety Advisory Group called space debris a “major safety issue” and “the dominant contributor to crew loss forecast calculations” for the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner astronaut ferries and the Orion deep space capsule by Lockheed Martin.

Space debris also contributes to two of the three main risks facing the International Space Station.

“The danger persists and continues to grow exponentially,” the report said. “Space is getting more and more crowded. For example, CubeSats and other small satellites are being launched with increasing frequency, and several companies are now deploying mega-constellations with hundreds or even thousands of satellites.

The US Space Force is providing satellite tracking, but it is becoming increasingly difficult and there is no regulatory framework for active risk management and collision avoidance.

“Given the recent increase in non-traditional commercial space operations, including maintenance of satellites, space tourism and the deployment of a large number of satellites to provide global Internet access, updates to roles and responsibilities existing ones might be appropriate, ”ASAP said.

“As it stands, there are no clear lines of authority to direct consistency among the many entities that operate in space.”