{"id":10718,"date":"2022-01-15T18:08:26","date_gmt":"2022-01-15T10:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/cape-canaverals-busy-january-to-continue-with-another-starlink-launch\/"},"modified":"2022-01-15T18:08:26","modified_gmt":"2022-01-15T10:08:26","slug":"cape-canaverals-busy-january-to-continue-with-another-starlink-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/cape-canaverals-busy-january-to-continue-with-another-starlink-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Canaveral\u2019s busy January to continue with another Starlink launch"},"content":{"rendered":"
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File photo of a Faclcon 9 rocket on pad 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Stephen Clark\/Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Forecasters expect brisk winds and chilly temperatures for a prime time, full moon launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with another batch of Starlink internet satellites Monday night from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a 70 percent chance of good conditions for launch at 7:26 p.m. EST Monday (0026 GMT), according to a forecast issued Saturday morning by the U.S. Space Force\u2019s 45th Weather Squadron. There\u2019s a backup instantaneous launch opportunity at 9:24 p.m. EST (0224 GMT).<\/p>\n

The mission, designated Starlink 4-6, will carry around 49 Starlink internet satellites into orbit for SpaceX\u2019s global internet network. The Falcon 9 is expected to fly southeast from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, heading over the Atlantic Ocean just north of the Bahamas before making a slight right-hand turn to line up with the target orbital plane for deployment of the Starlink payloads.<\/p>\n

The flight profile is expected to match that of the most recent Starlink launch Jan. 6, which was the first Starlink mission from Florida to head southeast, rather than northeast. That mission carried 49 flat-panel Starlink satellites into space. SpaceX hasn\u2019t announced yet how many Starlink satellites are on Monday\u2019s launch, but it\u2019s expected to be a similar number.<\/p>\n

Launch trajectories from Cape Canaveral have historically tracked east or northeast over the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n

But SpaceX, with approval from the Space Force\u2019s Eastern Range, has opened new launch trajectories in recent years. Falcon 9 missions have also flown south along the Florida coastline to reach polar orbit, a destination that was inaccessible from Cape Canaveral for 50 years.<\/p>\n

U.S. launches into polar orbit have typically departed from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, which has an open range of ocean to the south of the spaceport.<\/p>\n

The south and southeast launch paths from Cape Canaveral require rockets to perform turns, or \u201cdog-leg\u201d maneuvers, using some of their performance to fly around land masses and populated areas. That reduces the number of Starlink satellites SpaceX can launch on a single mission, but the company has said it intends to use the southeast launch trajectories in winter months to improve the chances of good offshore conditions for landing of the Falcon 9\u2019s first stage booster.<\/p>\n

For this mission, like the last Starlink launch, SpaceX\u2019s drone ship will be parked north of the Abacos Islands in the Bahamas. For launches to the northeast, the landing platform is positioned east of Charleston, South Carolina, a region that sees rougher seas and higher winds in the winter.<\/p>\n

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A stack of Starlink satellites awaiting encapsulation inside the payload fairing before a previous Falcon 9 launch. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX will surpass the 2,000-satellite mark in its Starlink program with Monday night\u2019s launch. Roughly 200 of those satellites have failed or been decommissioned by SpaceX\u2019s ground control team, according to a tabulation maintained by Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist and respected tracker of global spaceflight activity.<\/p>\n

The Starlink 4-6 mission will be SpaceX\u2019s 35th dedicated launch since May 2019 for the Starlink program.<\/p>\n

SpaceX has a long-term plan to launch as many as 42,000 Starlink satellites, according to a company filing with the International Telecommunication Union. The company\u2019s initial focus is on deploying thousands of satellites into five orbital \u201cshells.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 53.2-degree inclination shell, the target for Monday night\u2019s launch is one of the five orbital shells at different inclination angles that SpaceX plans to fill with around 4,400 satellites to provide high-speed, low-latency broadband connectivity around the world. The first shell, at 53.0 degrees, was filled with its full complement of satellites last May.<\/p>\n

As of last week, SpaceX said the Starlink network is now live in 25 countries and regions, serving more than 145,000 users worldwide. SpaceX builds its Starlink satellites on an assembly line in Redmond, Washington, and the company is developing and iterating its own user terminals.<\/p>\n

SpaceX hopes to use revenue from the Starlink business unit to help fund the company\u2019s ambitions to complete development of the heavy-lift Starship rocket, a massive fully reusable launcher designed to eventually replace the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.<\/p>\n

On Monday night\u2019s mission, the Falcon 9 rocket is expected to target an orbit a couple hundred miles above Earth. After flying free of the launch vehicle, the 49 Starlink satellites \u2014 each about a quarter-ton in mass \u2014 will unfurl solar panels and use ion thrusters to climb to an operational altitude of 335 miles (540 kilometers).<\/p>\n

The forecast for Monday night calls for a mostly clear sky and gusty west winds of 20 to 25 mph. The temperature at launch times is forecast to be around 52 degrees Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n

Rainy weather is expected along the Space Coast Sunday, but the weather system will push through the region in time for Monday evening\u2019s launch opportunity, according to the Space Force weather team.<\/p>\n

\u201cClouds will diminish through the day Monday at the spaceport, leaving gusty winds as the primary launch weather threat,\u201d the forecaster team wrote. \u201cOn Tuesday, high pressure will settle overhead making for a chilly morning, but excellent launch weather conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The launch will continue a busy January at the Florida spaceport, with seven rocket launches scheduled on the Eastern Range. Two of the missions, both by SpaceX, are already in the books, with five more on tap before the end of the month, including Monday\u2019s Falcon 9 flight.<\/p>\n

A small satellite launcher developed by Astra is slated to take off as soon as next week from the Complex 46 launch pad at Cape Canaveral, carrying several CubeSats into orbit on a demonstration flight for NASA.<\/p>\n

United Launch Alliance\u2019s first mission of 2022 is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 21, with a pair of Space Force surveillance satellites heading to geostationary orbit.<\/p>\n

Two more SpaceX launches are scheduled for the last week of January from each of the company\u2019s Florida launch pads.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

File photo of a Faclcon 9 rocket on pad 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Stephen Clark\/Spaceflight Now Forecasters expect brisk winds and chilly temperatures for a prime time, full moon launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with another batch of Starlink internet satellites Monday night from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10718\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}