{"id":18050,"date":"2019-05-16T20:29:07","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T12:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacexs-elon-musk-says-goodness-will-come-from-twice-delayed-starlink-launch\/"},"modified":"2019-05-16T20:29:07","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T12:29:07","slug":"spacexs-elon-musk-says-goodness-will-come-from-twice-delayed-starlink-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacexs-elon-musk-says-goodness-will-come-from-twice-delayed-starlink-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX\u2019s Elon Musk says \u2018goodness\u2019 will come from twice-delayed Starlink launch"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"SpaceX
SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket sits on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, in preparation for the launch of 60 Starlink broadband data satellites. (SpaceX Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says the launch of 60 Starlink satellites is aimed at spreading \u201cfundamental goodness\u201d in the form of high-speed internet access for the billions of people who currently don\u2019t have it.<\/p>\n

The first full stack of Starlink satellites is packed in the nose cone of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida was originally scheduled for Wednesday night, but had to be called off with less than 15 minutes left on the countdown clock due to unacceptable upper-level winds.<\/p>\n

SpaceX announced another postponement today In a tweet. \u201cStanding down to update satellite software and triple-check everything again,\u201d SpaceX said. \u201cAlways want to do everything we can on the ground to maximize mission success.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

Update: The next attempt is planned for a 90-minute launch window beginning at 10:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. PT) May 23.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At roughly 18.5 tons, the total payload mass for this launch will set a record for a SpaceX liftoff, Musk said during a pre-launch teleconference with reporters.<\/p>\n

The first-stage booster for this launch was previously used for the Telstar 18 Vantage satellite launch last September and the Iridium 8 satellite launch in January. Minutes after launch, the booster is due to separate and land itself on a drone ship called \u201cOf Course I Still Love You,\u201d stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n

Starting about an hour after launch, the 500-pound, flat-panel satellites will be spun into low Earth orbit like playing cards spread out on a table.<\/p>\n

The satellites were built at SpaceX\u2019s development facility in Redmond, Wash. Eventually, the Redmond factory could be turning out more than 1,000 satellites over the course of a year, Musk said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was one of the hardest engineering projects I\u2019ve ever seen done, and it\u2019s been executed really well.\u201d Musk said. \u201cI think it is important to acknowledge that there is a lot of new technology here. So it\u2019s possible that some of these satellites may not work. In fact, there\u2019s a small possibility that all of the satellites will not work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The payoff? \u201cThe goal of the Starlink system is to provide high-bandwidth, low-latency connectivity, ideally throughout the world,\u201d Musk said. Although he didn\u2019t name a price, Musk said he expected Starlink eventually to \u201cprovide a competitive option\u201d for the estimated 4 billion people around the world who can\u2019t afford or can\u2019t get access to broadband internet service.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of, like, fundamental goodness about Starlink,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s also, like, a revenue model: Musk estimated that once Starlink is fully up and running, it could generate $30 billion or more in annual revenue for SpaceX.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see this as a way forward to generate revenue that can be used to develop more advanced rockets and spaceships,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that, we think, is a key steppingstone on the way toward establishing a self-sustaining city on Mars and a base on the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

The income from Starlink is meant to help fund advanced development of Starship, the super-heavy-lift launch system that Musk intends to use to send a million settlers to Mars in the decades ahead. The first prototypes of the Starship system are already taking shape at SpaceX\u2019s facilities in Texas and Florida.<\/p>\n