SpaceX successfully placed 29 Starlink satellites into orbit using a Falcon 9 rocket. The ascent took place from Cape Canaveral. This is the second launch this year, and the rocket’s first stage successfully returned to an ocean platform in the Atlantic. The overall objective is 12 thousand satellites.
The Falcon 9 launch vehicle on Saturday, Moscow time, successfully put a fresh batch of 29 mini-satellites into orbit. They are intended to augment the orbital constellation of the global internet coverage system Starlink. This was reported by SpaceX, the creator of these space vehicles.
“The deployment of 29 Starlink satellites is confirmed,” an official announcement noted.
This launch was the second of the year for the Starlink system. The blastoff was executed from Launch Complex 40 at the U.S. Space Force base at Cape Canaveral in Florida. On Friday at 4:41 PM US Eastern Time (00:41 AM Moscow time), the rocket headed into space. Approximately an hour after liftoff, the satellites successfully separated from the booster’s second stage and achieved orbit.
As part of this flight from Florida, the reusable first stage of the launch vehicle completed its thirtieth controlled vertical landing. This occurred on the drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” in the Atlantic Ocean.
Since May 2019, SpaceX has released over 10.8 thousand satellites as part of the Starlink project. Some of these vehicles have malfunctioned or de-orbited, but more than 9.4 thousand satellites remain operational in orbit.
In the future, SpaceX intends to expand its orbital constellation to:
12 thousand spacecraft,
and then to 34 thousand.
Deploying such a massive network will permit high-speed internet access for Earth’s inhabitants in any corner of the globe. The total investment in the project is estimated at $10 billion.
Previously, we wrote about the progress of SpaceX’s Starlink project, which is rapidly transforming how internet services are provided worldwide. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission recently approved the launch of an additional 7.5 thousand satellites, which will significantly increase coverage and enhance the quality of the internet service. It is anticipated that this layering of technologies will help eliminate the digital divide and provide stable connectivity in the most remote areas of the planet.
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