SpaceX’s next launch includes 57 Starlink satellites, all with viewers

The next Launch of SpaceX Starlink, recently rescheduled for July 8, will include the company’s first batch of broadband satellites equipped with an umbrella to reduce glare.

Since Elon Musk’s company began launching the small satellites over a year ago, astronomers and other observers have been surprised and even disturbed by the amount of sunlight reflected by orbiting routers, often interfering with scientific observations.

Musk and SpaceX have been working with major astronomical organizations on the problem and have pledged to fix the problem as plans to launch tens of thousands of satellites increase in the coming years.

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Initially, SpaceX attempted to launch a so-called “darksat”, which was essentially a dark-coated Starlink satellite, but the results of this approach were mixed. The company then developed and tested a folding umbrella, called “VisorSat”.

One VisorSat launched earlier this month to test the new technology, and the next launch will bring the first batch fully shaded.

Blastoff is scheduled for June 26, but was removed a few hours before launch to allow SpaceX to address some technical issues. A new release date has been tentatively set for July 8, according to SpaceFlight Now.

The mission will come immediately after June 30. Falcon 9 rocket launch, which launched a new GPS satellite, followed by SpaceX’s first landing after lifting a military satellite into space.

We will update this post with more information and the launch livestream as it becomes available.