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SpaceX continues on its way to build its Starlink orbiting satellite network with the launch on Saturday that placed an additional 60 satellites into orbit. With that launch, the size of the Starlink constellation is now 895. Eventually, there will be thousands of satellites in orbit carrying broadband Internet services throughout the United States and around the world.
Saturday’s launch was a few days later than expected due to a problem with the onboard camera. The rocket SpaceX used was a Falcon 9 that had flown twice before and took off at 11:31 am EDT on Saturday. The rocket entered orbit from platform 40 at Cape Canaveral.
The successful launch marked SpaceX’s 19th launch this year and the 15th Starlink mission. After putting the satellites into orbit, the first stage of the Falcon 9 flew back to the ground and landed on an offshore drone. The second stage of the rocket was successfully fired and all 60 satellites on board were deployed.
Overall, Falcon 9 rockets have made 95 successful flights and SpaceX has had 100 successful rocket flights overall. SpaceX currently has approval to put 12,000 Starlink satellites into orbit using multiple orbital planes. The constellation will provide space-based site-line broadband signals from anywhere on Earth.
Broadband service provided by satellites is currently in beta testing in selected areas of the country. An impressive piece of data is that SpaceX has put 180 satellites into orbit in less than three weeks. Reports indicate that some satellites have failed in orbit, with 20 appearing to have stopped maneuvering. In addition to those 20 supposedly failed satellites, 53 have been deliberately exorbitant and two have re-entered the atmosphere after failures. SpaceX is seeking approval to put many more satellites into orbit.
