SpaceX’s eighth Starlink mission of the year is just days away from takeoff, kicking off a potentially record-breaking month after the same launch was delayed from June to July.
Now, instead of June 2020 potentially becoming SpaceX’s first four-launch month, July is now the newest candidate for the milestone. Known as Starlink V1 L9 or Starlink-9, SpaceX’s second Starlink ride, which carries 57 Starlink satellites and two BlackSky Earth spacecraft, is scheduled to launch before noon (ish) EDT (~ 16: 00 UTC) on Wednesday, July 8. If the schedule sticks, that means Starlink-9 will fly just eight days after SpaceX’s successful launch on June 30 of the third U.S. military GPS III satellite.
In other words, SpaceX has changed the launch order of GPS III SV03 and Starlink-9, going from NET on June 30 and June 22, respectively, to June 30 and July 8, still with eight days to go. difference. Such a fast launch cadence off the east coast is only possible due to the use of the separate SpaceX LC-40 and LC-39A launch pads, located just a few miles away at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station ( CCAFS) and the Kennedy Space Center.
Set just a few weeks ago, SpaceX’s unique platform response record is within a few hours of 10 days and was achieved on LC-40 with consecutive Starlink launches. Using Pad 39A and LC-40 simultaneously means that post-launch restoration doesn’t need to limit SpaceX’s responsiveness, although it does restrict the overall launch cadence that SpaceX can achieve. It is unknown how much of SpaceX’s LC-40 and Pad 39A workforce is shared, so there may actually be some less visible limits to multi-platform launch change, but SpaceX has technically made two launches in just one day. or two away from Florida and California pads
In addition to the LC-40 platform’s rotation record, SpaceX’s rotation record in Florida was also set just a few weeks ago when the company successfully launched two NASA astronauts (Pad 39A) and 60 Starlink satellites (LC-40 ) less than five days apart. In theory, if SpaceX can change both pads in just ten days, the company could maintain a five-day launch cadence almost indefinitely, allowing up to 70+ releases annually.
However, that level of launch activity is a long way off. At the moment, SpaceX has yet to launch four times in any month (or ~ 30 days) since its first flight in 2006. Since very few rockets in history can claim to have reached the same milestone, it is far from harmful to SpaceX, but high launch rate is a critical component if the company hopes to quickly launch thousands of Starlink satellites. Before Starlink-9 fell from June 22 to July 8, there was a real possibility that June 2020 was the company’s first month of four releases.
Now that opportunity has passed to July. As of now, SpaceX has four launches, one somewhat tentative, scheduled for this month. Starlink-9 has a relatively firm target for Pad 39A on July 8, followed by South Korea’s ANASIS II military communications satellite NET on July 14 from LC-40. Finally, Argentina’s SAOCOM 1B radar satellite and SpaceX’s own Starlink-10 missions could be launched just a few days apart, again using the Pad 39A and LC-40. However, SAOCOM 1B could easily move to August or even more, as the mission was originally delayed from March 30 by the coronavirus pandemic, which is far from over.
The fact that SpaceX has gone from zero opportunities for a month from four launches to two consecutive launches suggests that, even if it doesn’t happen in July 2020, the milestone is close.
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