SpaceX launches 75th Falcon rocket landing after 60 more Starlink satellites launch – Spaceflight Now

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A Falcon 9 rocket disappears in a blanket of cloud shortly after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center early Thursday. Credit: SpaceX

Launched through a blanket of low cloud and light fog, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket thundered into the sky over the Florida Space Coast early Thursday and put 60 more Starlink Internet satellites into orbit. The first stage of the rocket landed on SpaceX’s floating landing pad in the Atlantic Ocean to complete its eighth space trip and back.

The 229-foot (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket came to life and lifted off from Kennedy Space Center Platform 39A at 03:24:54 EST (0824:54 GMT). Fifteen seconds later, the liquid-fueled launcher disappeared into a cloud bridge above the seaside spaceport, leaving behind an orange stream that slowly faded along with the roar of the mighty main engines of the Falcon 9.

While heading northeast, the Falcon 9 exceeded the speed of sound and dropped its first stage amplifier about two and a half minutes after takeoff. A single Merlin engine on the upper stage ignited to continue space flight, while the first stage descended to a propellant landing on the “Of course, I still love you” drone located at around 630 kilometers downstream from Cape Canaveral.

The successful landing marked the 75th intact recovery of a Falcon rocket thruster since December 2015. Thursday’s mission thruster – designated B1049 – made its eighth launch and landing after debuting in September 2018, linking another first stage for the greatest number of flights in SpaceX. fleet.

A Falcon 9 booster from SpaceX’s previous launch on February 15 failed to land on the drone ship after one of its nine main engines shut down prematurely during the ascent.

After reaching a preliminary parking orbit, the upper stage traveled halfway around the world before firing its motor again for a one-second orbit adjustment over the Indian Ocean. The 60 Starlink satellites deployed from the upper deck of Falcon 9 at 4:29 a.m. EST (9:29 a.m. GMT) while flying 278 kilometers above Earth just south of New Zealand.

The targeted launch came after a series of delays that have kept the mission on the ground since the end of January. The delays were caused by unspecified weather conditions and technical issues, and two other Falcon 9 missions with Starlink satellites took off from Station 40 near the Cape Canaveral Space Station while the station flew 39A remained terrestrial.

The change in mission order meant the batch launched Thursday was on the 20th Falcon 9 flight dedicated to carrying Starlink satellites, despite being designated on the military-run Eastern Range as Starlink V1.0-L17. . Launches # 18 and 19 ended up flying before # 17.

The 60 Starlink satellites, each weighing about a quarter of a ton, will deploy their solar panels and ignite krypton ion thrusters to begin raising their altitude to 550 kilometers in the coming weeks. At that altitude, the satellites will join more than 1,000 active Starlink satellites flying in orbits tilted 53 degrees to the equator, taking them over almost every populated region of the world.

SpaceX has launched 1,205 Starlink satellites to date with the 60 new relay stations delivered to orbit Thursday. But 63 of the Starlinks were intentionally de-orbited or re-entered the atmosphere after failing, and another 20 are not maneuvering or appear to be de-orbiting, according to a Starlink satellite tally from respected astronomer and follower Jonathan McDowell. space flights.

SpaceX is on track to complete deployment of its initial tranche of 1,584 Starlink stations – including spares – later this year. SpaceX won’t stop there, with plans to launch additional orbital “shells” of Starlink satellites into polar orbit for global coverage, with a first-generation fleet totaling some 4,400 spacecraft.

The Federal Communications Commission has authorized SpaceX to eventually operate up to 12,000 Starlink satellites.

The company is already providing an interim level of service to parts of the Earth, such as Canada, the northern United States, and the United Kingdom. Beta testing of Starlink services is already underway with users in these regions. SpaceX is also accepting pre-orders from Starlink consumers, who can pay $ 99 to reserve their seat online to get Starlink service when it becomes available in their region. For people living in the southern United States and other low-latitude areas, it should happen by the end of 2021, SpaceX says.

Once confirmed, customers will pay $ 499 for a Starlink antenna and modem, plus $ 50 in shipping and handling fees, SpaceX says. A subscription will cost $ 99 per month.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 booster stands on top of the “Of course I still love you” drone spacecraft after its launch Thursday. Credit: SpaceX

“Starlink continues to improve as SpaceX deploys additional infrastructure and capacity, averaging two Starlink launches per month, to add significant in-orbit capacity alongside the activation of additional gateways to improve performance and expand Service coverage areas across the country, ”SpaceX wrote in the record. .

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk tweeted on February 9 that SpaceX’s Starlink subsidiary will go public once it has predictable cash flow.

“Once we can predict cash flow reasonably well, Starlink will go public,” Musk tweeted.

Until then, SpaceX will be spending money at a high rate to maintain the rapid deployment of the Starlink network, from satellite launches at an average rate every two weeks to manufacturing user ground terminals. SpaceX said the entire project could cost more than $ 10 billion, but Musk said the revenue opportunities were even higher, providing resources for SpaceX to advance its bold plans to send people to Mars. .

The centerpiece of SpaceX’s Mars plans is a next-generation fully reusable rocket called the Starship, which the company says will eventually replace the company’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft.

The Falcon 9 launch early Thursday came less than half a day after an atmospheric test flight of a prototype spacecraft from SpaceX’s development facility in South Texas. The Starship test vehicle performed a controlled landing, a first for a high altitude descending Starship, and a major breakthrough for the rocket program.

But the prototype exploded minutes later, scattering debris at the landing site on the Texas Gulf Coast. Nonetheless, SpaceX declared the test a success.

SpaceX’s busy launch schedule continues with the upcoming Falcon 9 mission set to take off Sunday night from Cape Canaveral Space Station Station 40 along with 60 other Starlink satellites. This flight is scheduled for 10:41 p.m. EST Sunday (0341 GMT Monday), followed by further launches of Falcon 9 with Starlink satellites in the coming weeks.

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @ StephenClark1.



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