{"id":12086,"date":"2020-11-25T20:43:52","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T12:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-launches-60-more-starlink-satellites-on-100th-falcon-9-flight\/"},"modified":"2020-11-25T20:43:52","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T12:43:52","slug":"spacex-launches-60-more-starlink-satellites-on-100th-falcon-9-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-launches-60-more-starlink-satellites-on-100th-falcon-9-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX launches 60 more Starlink satellites on 100th Falcon 9 flight"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_48836\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48836\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-48836\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/EnoyGULVkAEQ-2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/EnoyGULVkAEQ-2.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/EnoyGULVkAEQ-2-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/EnoyGULVkAEQ-2-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/EnoyGULVkAEQ-2-678x452.jpeg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-48836\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Falcon 9 rocket climbs away from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Tuesday night. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The 100th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket delivered 60 satellites to orbit for SpaceX\u2019s Starlink network Tuesday night, adding another building block to a planned fleet of thousands of solar-powered space-based relay stations to beam broadband connectivity around the world.<\/p>\n<p>The successful mission late Tuesday also set a new record for SpaceX\u2019s rocket reuse program \u2014 one that could be broken again within months if SpaceX maintains its feverish launch cadence. For the first time, a reusable Falcon 9 booster completed its seventh trip to space and back on Tuesday night\u2019s flight.<\/p>\n<p>The Falcon 9 rocket fired its nine kerosene-fueled Merlin 1D engines and roared off pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air force Station at 9:13:12 p.m. EST Tuesday (0213:12 GMT Wednesday). The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) launcher darted through a broken cloud layer over the pad and rocketed toward the northeast from Cape Canaveral to line up with the mission\u2019s targeted orbital plane within the Starlink network.<\/p>\n<p>The rocket\u2019s 15-story first stage booster dropped away from the Falcon 9 upper stage about two-and-a-half after liftoff, setting a course for a controlled touchdown on SpaceX\u2019s drone ship \u201cOf Course I Still Love You\u201d positioned several hundred miles northeast of Cape Canaveral in the Atlantic Ocean,<\/p>\n<p>The booster \u2014 designated B1049 in SpaceX\u2019s rocket inventory \u2014 reignited its center engine for a braking maneuver just before touchdown, then extended a landing gear before settling onto the deck of the drone ship. The apparently flawless landing punctuated the seventh mission of the B1049 vehicle, making it SpaceX\u2019s \u201cfleet leader.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elon Musk, SpaceX\u2019s founder and CEO, has said the newest version of the Falcon 9 booster could fly 10 times without any major refurbishment, and perhaps 100 times with periodic overhauls.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1331425880929918984&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fspaceflightnow.com%2F2020%2F11%2F25%2Fspacex-launches-60-more-starlink-satellites-on-100th-falcon-9-flight%2F&amp;sessionId=7a6c6b89096630fd30c463150f3b7de2bbb0627d&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1331425880929918984\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782696308396328437=\"true\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Flying some 140 miles over the North Atlantic, 60 new Starlink internet satellites have deployed from the upper stage of SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket.<\/p>\n<p>This brings the total number of Starlinks launched since May 2019 to 955.https:\/\/t.co\/5fFiWvJxb4 pic.twitter.com\/f2DHahj1j1<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) November 25, 2020<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Along with its reused first stage booster, the Falcon 9 launched with a recycled clamshell-like payload shroud, half of which flew on two previous missions. The other half of the fairing was a veteran one prior launch.<\/p>\n<p>Two recovery vessels were dispatched to sea to retrieve the fairing halves from Tuesday night\u2019s mission after they parachuted back to Earth from space.<\/p>\n<p>While the booster and fairing shells descended back to Earth, the Falcon 9\u2019s upper stage guided the 60 flat-panel Starlink satellites into a transfer orbit inclined 53 degrees to the equator. Around 15 minutes after liftoff, the upper stage released retention rods to allow the stack of 60 spacecraft to fly free from the rocket over the North Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n<p>The Falcon 9 aimed to place the satellites into an elliptical orbit ranging between 132 miles (213 kilometers) and 227 miles (366 kilometers). A member of SpaceX\u2019s launch team confirmed on a mission audio loop that the rocket achieved an on-target orbital insertion.<\/p>\n<p>The launch was previously scheduled Saturday night, then delayed to Sunday, when SpaceX called off a launch attempt due to concerns about \u201cmission assurance.\u201d SpaceX bypassed a launch opportunity Monday due to a forecast of poor conditions in the Falcon 9 booster\u2019s offshore landing zone, setting the stage for Tuesday\u2019s countdown.<\/p>\n<p>Tuesday night\u2019s launch was the 23rd SpaceX mission of 2020, extending the company\u2019s record cadence of flights. The previous record for the most SpaceX launches in a year was 21 missions in 2018.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_48837\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48837\" style=\"width: 1500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-48837\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/f9_clouds.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1500\" height=\"970\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/f9_clouds.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/f9_clouds-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/f9_clouds-768x497.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/f9_clouds-678x438.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-48837\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exhaust plume from nine Merlin 1D main engines was apparent as the Falcon 9 rocket soared through clouds over Cape Canaveral on Tuesday night. Credit: Stephen Clark \/ Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The quarter-ton Starlink satellites, built by SpaceX in Redmond, Washington, were expected to unfurl power-generating solar arrays and prime their krypton ion thrusters to begin raising their orbits to an operational altitude of 341 miles (550 kilometers), where they will join more than 800 other Starlink relay stations to beam broadband internet signals across most of the populated world.<\/p>\n<p>With the launch Sunday, SpaceX has deployed 955 Starlink satellites into orbit.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX plans to operate an initial block of around 1,500 Starlink satellites in orbits 341 miles above Earth. The company, founded by billionaire Elon Musk, has regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission to eventually field a fleet of up to 12,000 small Starlink broadband stations operating in Ku-band, Ka-band, and V-band frequencies.<\/p>\n<p>There are also preliminary plans for an even larger fleet of 30,000 additional Starlink satellites, but a network of that size has not been authorized by the FCC.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1331425880929918984&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fspaceflightnow.com%2F2020%2F11%2F25%2Fspacex-launches-60-more-starlink-satellites-on-100th-falcon-9-flight%2F&amp;sessionId=7a6c6b89096630fd30c463150f3b7de2bbb0627d&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1331425880929918984\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782696308396328437=\"true\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Flying some 140 miles over the North Atlantic, 60 new Starlink internet satellites have deployed from the upper stage of SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket.<\/p>\n<p>This brings the total number of Starlinks launched since May 2019 to 955.https:\/\/t.co\/5fFiWvJxb4 pic.twitter.com\/f2DHahj1j1<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) November 25, 2020<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>SpaceX says the Starlink network \u2014 designed for low-latency internet service \u2014 has entered a beta testing phase in multiple U.S. states and Canada.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast month, SpaceX launched its \u201cBetter Than Nothing Beta\u201d test program,\u201d the company said in a post on its website. \u201cService invites were sent to a portion of those who requested availability updates on Starlink.com and who live in serviceable areas. A couple weeks ago, Canada granted Starlink regulatory approval and last week SpaceX rolled out the service to parts of parts of southern Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cinvitation-only\u201d beta testing program is focused on testing Starlink connectivity in rural and remote areas in the northern United States and southern Canada, said Kate Tice, a SpaceX engineer who co-hosted the company\u2019s launch webcast Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we launch more satellites, install more ground stations, and improve our networking software, data speed, latency, and uptime will all improve dramatically,\u201d Tice said.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX projects latency on the Starlink network will fall to around 16 to 19 milliseconds by mid-2019, Tice said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt our current pace, we expect to expand our beta in a notable way very early next year, in the late January-February timeframe,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Falcon 9 rocket climbs away from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Tuesday night. Credit: SpaceX The 100th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket delivered 60 satellites to orbit for SpaceX\u2019s Starlink network Tuesday night, adding another building block to a planned fleet of thousands of solar-powered space-based relay stations to [&hellip;]<\/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":[1745,252,291,1736,1573,479,25,311],"class_list":["post-12086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-b1049","tag-broadband","tag-commercial-space","tag-complex-40","tag-drone-ship","tag-falcon-9","tag-launch","tag-reusability"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12086"}],"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=12086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12086\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}