{"id":10646,"date":"2022-03-02T20:40:19","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T12:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-preps-for-another-starlink-launch-as-internet-terminals-arrive-in-ukraine\/"},"modified":"2022-03-02T20:40:19","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T12:40:19","slug":"spacex-preps-for-another-starlink-launch-as-internet-terminals-arrive-in-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-preps-for-another-starlink-launch-as-internet-terminals-arrive-in-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX preps for another Starlink launch as internet terminals arrive in Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Falcon 9 rocket stands on launch pad 39A Wednesday. Credit: Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX wheeled a Falcon 9 rocket and 47 internet satellites to a launch pad Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center, ready to blast off Thursday to reinforce the Starlink constellation days after expanding the network into Ukraine amid Russia\u2019s invasion of the country.<\/p>\n

The launch, set for 9:35 a.m. EST (1435 GMT) Thursday, will take off from pad 39A at Kennedy, continuing SpaceX\u2019s busy start to the year. It will be SpaceX\u2019s ninth mission since Jan. 1, and the 10th launch from Florida\u2019s Space Coast this year, coming less than two days after the liftoff of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.<\/p>\n

With the 47 new satellites going up Thursday, SpaceX will have launched 2,234 Starlink spacecraft to date, including prototypes and older models no longer in service. Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist who regularly tracks spaceflight activity, estimated SpaceX had 1,945 functioning Starlink satellites in orbit, as of Wednesday.<\/p>\n

SpaceX doesn\u2019t release information on the health and status of its Starlink satellites.<\/p>\n

The launch Thursday is scheduled just six days after SpaceX\u2019s previous Starlink mission from California. SpaceX plans another Starlink launch on a Falcon 9 rocket March 8, putting the company closer to reaching a goal of deploying roughly 4,400 Starlink satellites to beam high-speed, low-latency internet services around the world.<\/p>\n

Eventually, SpaceX has signaled in regulatory filings it wants to operate as many as 42,000 internet satellites, all flying in low Earth orbit a few hundred miles above the planet.<\/p>\n

The number of satellites planned by SpaceX and other companies have raised questions about the safety of operations in low Earth orbit, including how the fleets might create more space debris and cause problems in managing the ever-growing number of objects circling the planet.<\/p>\n

Astronomers have also criticized the Starlink program for ruining some telescope observations, but SpaceX has mitigated the problem by making their satellites less reflective of sunlight.<\/p>\n

But the upside of space-based internet services was on display in recent days after SpaceX shipped Starlink antennas to Ukraine to help citizens remain connected amid Russia\u2019s military attack, which began Feb. 24.<\/p>\n

Two days later, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine\u2019s vice prime minister, asked Elon Musk for help on Twitter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile you try to colonize Mars \u2014 Russia try to occupy Ukraine!\u201d Fedorov tweeted in a public message to Musk. \u201cWhile your rockets successfully land from space \u2014 Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musk responded the same day that Starlink service was activated in Ukraine. A shipment of Starlink user terminals arrived in Ukraine Monday, according to Fedorov.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarlink keeps our cities connected and emergency services saving lives!\u201d Fedorov tweeted Wednesday, adding that Ukraine needs electrical generators to keep Starlink and other \u201clife-saving services\u201d online after Russian attacks on local infrastructure.<\/p>\n