{"id":17604,"date":"2021-01-24T21:25:57","date_gmt":"2021-01-24T13:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-puts-record-143-satellites-in-orbit-with-spaceflight-playing-a-supporting-role\/"},"modified":"2021-01-24T21:25:57","modified_gmt":"2021-01-24T13:25:57","slug":"spacex-puts-record-143-satellites-in-orbit-with-spaceflight-playing-a-supporting-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-puts-record-143-satellites-in-orbit-with-spaceflight-playing-a-supporting-role\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX puts record 143 satellites in orbit, with Spaceflight playing a supporting role"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_600727\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-600727\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-600727\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/200124-spacex2-630x501.jpg\" alt=\"SpaceX launch\" width=\"630\" height=\"501\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/200124-spacex2-630x501.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/200124-spacex2-768x611.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/200124-spacex2.jpg 1121w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-600727\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket rises from its launch pad with 143 satellites on board. (SpaceX via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>SpaceX set a record for the number of satellites sent into orbit by a single rocket, and that\u2019s not the only milestone reached during today\u2019s Transporter-1 mission.<\/p>\n<p>The Falcon 9 rocket launch also marked the orbital debut of Sherpa-FX, a satellite transfer vehicle made and managed by Seattle-based Spaceflight Inc.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX had postponed the launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida for a day due to concerns about the potential for lightning. Today\u2019s weather was also \u201ca bit challenging,\u201d launch commentator Andy Tran said, but all systems were go tor today\u2019s liftoff at 10 a.m. ET (7 a.m. PT).<\/p>\n<p>Minutes after launch, the Falcon\u2019s second stage separated from the first-stage booster as planned. The booster, which had been used for four previous launches, flew itself back over the Atlantic Ocean to land on a drone ship dubbed \u201cOf Course I Still Love You.\u201d Yet another ship, Miss Chief, recovered components of the Falcon 9\u2019s nose cone, or fairing.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the second stage continued its ascent to orbit, loaded with satellites.<\/p>\n<p>In all, 143 satellites were sent into a sun-synchronous, pole-to-pole orbit aboard the Falcon 9 \u2014 including 13 deployed from the Sherpa-FX. Spaceflight said two more spacecraft flew piggyback as hosted payloads aboard the Sherpa spacecraft, which is the space hardware equivalent of a Swiss Army knife. The Sherpa itself counts as one of the satellites.<\/p>\n<p>The previous record of 104 satellites was set by India\u2019s PSLV rocket in 2017, and Spaceflight was involved in that mission, too.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"SpaceX Transporter-1 launch &amp; Falcon 9 first stage landing\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Tlm37TcLUbw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Among the spacecraft packed aboard the Sherpa were three of HawkEye 360\u2019s radio-monitoring satellites, a NASA cubesat that will test a water-based propulsion system, and a container packed with cremated remains and DNA that was flown for Celestis as a memorial to its customers\u2019 loved ones.<\/p>\n<p>Spaceflight placed yet another satellite on the Falcon 9 for a separate deployment. That spacecraft, known as iQPS-2 or Izanami, will join what\u2019s expected to become a constellation of satellites making radar observations of the planet below.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis mission is a new milestone for Spaceflight,\u201d senior mission manager Ryan Olcott said in a pre-launch blog posting. \u201cNot only is it the debut flight of our next-gen Sherpa, we managed the end-to-end launch experience for 10 cubesats, four microsats and two hosted payloads \u2014 all during a global pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"callout clearfix\"><strong>Previously:<\/strong> Spaceflight Inc. fills out its line of Sherpa space tugs<\/h4>\n<p>Spaceflight Inc. called its part of the mission SXRS-3, one of a series of rideshare (RS) missions booked with SpaceX (SX). But SXRS-3 represented only about a tenth of the manifest for today\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n<p>Other payloads included 36 of Planet\u2019s Earth-observing SuperDove satellites, 17 satellites for Kepler Communications\u2019 \u201cInternet of Things\u201d constellation, nine payloads for Nanoracks\u2019 Eyries-1 mission, 30 spacecraft flown for Exolaunch (including three ICEYE radar satellites), three cubesats for NASA\u2019s V-R3x mission, 20 spacecraft deployed from D-Orbit\u2019s space tug&nbsp;and two Capella radar spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>Thirty-six of the satellites on that list were built by Swarm Technologies and are no bigger than a slice of bread.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the customer payloads, SpaceX launched 10 satellites for its own Starlink broadband internet constellation. More than 1,000 operational Starlink satellites, manufactured at SpaceX\u2019s facility in Redmond, Wash., have been launched since 2019. These 10 satellites, however, were the first to go into polar orbit. Starlink is already in the midst of a \u201cbetter-than-nothing\u201d beta test, and the new additions are expected to open the way for the expansion of beta availability.<\/p>\n<p>Satellite deployment finished up 91 minutes after launch.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Inside look: Spaceflight Sherpa-FX\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/deJosbj0Np4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s mission was conducted under the terms of SpaceX\u2019s Smallsat Rideshare Program, which aims to reduce the complexity and cost of access to space for low-mass payloads. The price for sending 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of payload to a sun-synchronous orbit is $1 million, which translates to less than $2,500 per pound.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s an attractive arrangement for companies such as Spaceflight, which can put more than a dozen spacecraft on its Sherpa space tug and deploy them into different orbital locations. But there\u2019s a downside, having to do with the difficulties of shepherding so many satellites through the launch process and tracking them once they\u2019re deployed.<\/p>\n<p>Spaceflight is already working on new variants of the Sherpa carrier that would be equipped with their own propulsion systems. Meanwhile, SpaceX is developing its Starship super-rocket, which will surely break today\u2019s record for satellite deployment when it enters service. The next test of a Starship prototype could take place as early as this week.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Update for 4:45 p.m. PT Jan. 26:<\/strong> There\u2019s yet another Seattle-area connection to one of the cubesats sent into orbit: Bothell, Wash.-based Tethers Unlimited created the water-based propulsion system that\u2019s being tested on NASA\u2019s PTD-1 satellite.<\/p>\n<p>The solar-powered Hydros system takes advantage of electrolysis to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gas, which can then be used as rocket propellants. The concept meshes well with the idea of extracting water ice from the moon or near-Earth asteroids for spacecraft refueling.<\/p>\n<p>In an earlier update, we corrected the number of ICEYE satellites deployed to its proper three, and also updated the status of the Starship SN9 launch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket rises from its launch pad with 143 satellites on board. (SpaceX via YouTube) SpaceX set a record for the number of satellites sent into orbit by a single rocket, and that\u2019s not the only milestone reached during today\u2019s Transporter-1 mission. The Falcon 9 rocket launch also marked the orbital debut of [&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":[479,4434,20,442,4560,2340,2341,316],"class_list":["post-17604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-falcon-9","tag-falcon-launch","tag-satellite","tag-satellites","tag-sherpa","tag-spaceflight","tag-spaceflight-industries","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17604"}],"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=17604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}