SpaceX to set record for most satellites launched on single mission

As of Saturday morning, SpaceX will launch the first dedicated mission of a carpooling program announced at the end of 2019. As part of this plan, the company has sought to bring together dozens of small satellites for regular launches on its workhorse Falcon 9.

There seems to have been a lot of interest in the program, which offered a very low price of $ 15,000 per kilogram delivered to a sun-synchronous orbit. For its first “Transporter-1” mission, SpaceX has announced that it will launch 133 commercial and government spacecraft, as well as 10 of its own Starlink satellites. SpaceX was to obtain permission to deploy these Starlink satellites in a polar orbit.

With this launch of 143 total satellites, SpaceX will surpass the previous record holder for most satellites launched in a single mission, set by an Indian launcher in 2017. In February of the same year, the Polar satellite launch vehicle was launched. successfully delivered 104 satellites in a handful of different orbits synchronous with the Sun.

SpaceX did not disclose many details about the popularity of its rideshare program, nor has the company announced the number of payloads reserved in future launches. However, several customers have expressed surprise at the cost and speed of the service offered by SpaceX. Last year, after booking a rideshare on a Starlink launch that flew in the summer of 2020, satellite operator Planet publicly discussed how quickly the deal was made.

“It was SpaceX’s result that drastically reduced the cost of access to launch,” said Mike Safyan, vice president of launch at Planet, in June. “It’s important. They lowered the prices so much that we couldn’t believe what we were looking for.”

Planet is launching 48 of his SuperDove satellites of the Transporter-1 mission.

The mission will be closely watched by smaller satellite rocket companies including Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit, which now have proven boosters, as well as companies still developing their rockets. While small rockets can provide a dedicated service to small satellites by installing them one or two at a time, it will be difficult to compete with SpaceX on price. Competitors will watch to see how orderly the dispersion of the satellites will be – according to SpaceX’s schedule for the mission, the deployment will take place in 12 waves.

Weather is of moderate concern for Saturday’s launch attempt, which is scheduled for 9:40 a.m. ET (2:40 p.m. UTC) from the Cape Canaveral space station in Florida. According to forecasters, there is a 40% chance of a weather violation due to thick clouds and cumulus clouds. The weather in the recovery area for the booster looks good.

The first stage of this rocket will make its fifth flight. It made its debut in May 2020 with the historic Demo-2 mission which transported Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station. Since then, he has flown about every two months. It last launched a NASA refueling mission to the International Space Station on December 6.

A webcast is expected to begin approximately 15 minutes before the launch window opens on Saturday morning.

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