Forecasters forecast a 60 percent chance of favorable weather for the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida so that more Starlink broadband satellites will be launched into orbit.
The launch – set for EDT (1819 GMT) at 2:19 a.m. Thursday – will add 60 more Starlink satellites to SpaceX’s growing broadband network. SpaceX has so far launched more than 700 Starlink satellites, making the company the owner of the largest spacecraft fleet in orbit.
Like the previous Starlink launch, the 229-foot tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket north of the Florida Space Coast, with a 1.7 million-pound thrust from the Nine Merlin’s main engine, then its first stage booster in about two-and-a-half minutes.
The second phase of the Falcon 9 is likely to fire twice in a circular orbit between the same Merlin engine, 172 miles (278 kilometers) and 162 miles (261 kilometers) before the launch of the Starlink satellites, with 53 trends. Degree, according to pre-projection estimates.
The separation of 60 Starlink satellites from the rocket is scheduled for about 61 minutes after launch.
SpaceX plans to recapture the first phase of the Falcon 9 aboard the drone ship “Just Read Instructions”, located northeast of Cape Canaveral in the Atlantic Ocean, east of Charleston, South Carolina. Propulsive landing of the first stage is expected around eight minutes after the liftoff.
The first phase of Thursday’s launch has flown twice before, including the May 30 launch of two NASA astronauts on the SpaceX crew Dragon capsule, and the July 20 launch of South Korea’s Anasis 2 military communications satellite. According to SpaceX, half of the oyster-like payload ground on Thursday’s mission was also the P of the previous two Falcon 9 / Starlink launches. Is.
SpaceX also plans to regain payload ferries after launching on Thursday. The two parts of the shroud are designed to come down under the parachute.
The mission on Thursday will mark the 13th launch of the Starlink satellites, as SpaceX began deploying the network in May 2019. SpaceX’s most recent launch Sept. The last 60 Starlink satellites were carried out in 3.
The official launch weather forecast issued Wednesday by the 45th Weather Squadron at Cape Canaveral, the Falcon 9 calls for a 60 percent chance of a good condition for the lift off on Thursday. The primary weather concern will be with cumulus and anvil clouds associated with the hurricane on Thursday afternoon.
If the launch is late on Friday, the forecast has a 40 percent chance of acceptable weather conditions.
SpaceX eventually plans to launch thousands of Starlink satellites, but Starlink’s first branch will have 1,440 spacecraft, according to Jonathan Hoffler, vice president and commercial sales at Starlink.
“The total global constellation we’re targeting is 1,440 satellites, many of which are already in orbit,” Hoffler said.
Some of the satellites in the first Starlink launch last May have been moved and deorbited at lower altitudes.
Each flat-panel Starlink satellite weighs about a quarter-ton, and is built at the SpaceX facility in Redmond, Washington, near Seattle. Rather than expanding SpaceX’s image to create in-house hardware, the aerospace company is building its own Starlink satellites, user terminals and ground stations.
SpaceX’s Starlink megacons installation is already the world’s largest fleet of satellites, but hundreds more will be launched in the coming months.
Hoffler said last month that SpaceX is building six Starlink spacecraft a day, and plans to launch Starlink missions every two to three weeks until the initial Starlink network of about 1,440 satellites is completed.
SpaceX has received regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission, which eventually operates about 12,000 Starlink satellites to receive high-speed, low-latency Internet signals. SpaceX has also hinted at plans to launch 30,000 additional Starlink satellites – in addition to the 12,000 already approved in filings with the International Telecommunication Union.
The Starlink network is one of SpaceX’s two major development projects, next to the company’s next Pay Star Starship super-heavy-lift rocket.
Hoffler said in a discussion at the Escand Space Science and Technology Summit last month that private beta testing is being launched in the Pacific Northwest. With about 700 satellites, the Starlink network has enough coverage to provide connectivity to users at high latitudes, but more launches are needed to expand coverage to other regions.
SpaceX has asked those wishing to participate in the public beta testing phase to sign up on the Starlink website.
The beta testing program is now underway, with SpaceX collecting delayed statistics and performing speed tests. The company says it is happy with the preliminary results.
SpaceX said earlier this month that tests so far have shown that the network has “super low latency”, with download speeds exceeding 100 megabits per second. It’s fast enough to stream multiple HD movies at once, and has bandwidth left, according to SpaceX.
SpaceX has also begun testing the spacecraft with inter-satellite laser links, which will eventually allow data traffic to pass through the network without passing through ground relay stations. The first batch of Starlink satellites did not have inter-satellite links
Hoffler hinted at upgraded Starlink satellites in a virtual presentation at the Escand Space Science and Technology Summit last month.
“With 1,440 satellites, when we get 24/7 global coverage, and there are no plans to stop,” Hoffler said. “We will continue to launch, and with each launch, we will be able to provide more and more capacity. There is never enough capacity. You can’t limit what your kids want to see and what your family’s consumption is. So we will continue to solidify the network. “
According to Hoffler, SpaceX will develop older Starlink satellites, as upgraded spacecraft come online.
Following Thursday’s launch, SpaceX’s next mission is Sept. 30. The Pad 40 is scheduled to take off at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the 30th, while the Falcon 9 rocket will launch the US Space Force’s next GPS navigation satellite.
Email the author.
Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: StephenClark1.
