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By Chris Forrester
October 19, 2020
SpaceX put another 60 of its Starlink satellite broadband spacecraft into orbit at 8.25 a.m. Florida time on October 18.
This was the fourteenth batch of Starlink launches and brings the total delivered of satellites in low Earth orbit to 835 (although some have been exorbitant). The 60 satellites on board were deployed in a nearly circular orbit about 278 kilometers high. They will now soar using their onboard ion thrusters to their final orbit height of 550 km.
In what is now a routine rocket engineering demonstration, the Falcon 9’s first stage made a textbook landing on its floating barge (‘Of course I still love you’) and the Atlantic rescue / capture ships. (called Go Ms. Tree and Go Ms. Chief) managed to catch two valuable rocket fairings, although one of the capture nets broke.
This mission was the 18th this year for SpaceX and the 95th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket.
SpaceX is already conducting a test of its Starlink satellite broadband program and this launch will mean that Elon Musk has approached 800 usable satellites in space for a more ambitious test program before rolling out service in the northern US. USA and Canada.
The next Starlink release will be around October 21.
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