US Eastern Time, a Falcon 9 rocket under SpaceX lifted off from launch pad 39A of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, sending 60 “Starlink” Internet satellites into space. The first-stage booster and fairing are all recovered.
It is reported that this launch is SpaceX’s 18th launch in 2020 and the 95th launch of the Falcon 9 rocket so far . Currently, the company’s busiest launch year is still 2018, when SpaceX completed 21 launch missions.
The first-stage booster, called B1051, has already achieved 6 launches and landings after the rocket launch mission was completed that day. It is also SpaceX’s second Falcon 9 booster to achieve 6 launches and recovery. Previously, this booster has sent four batches of “Starlink” satellites into space, launched three Earth observation satellites for Canada, and also sent the unmanned Dragon spacecraft on NASA’s Demo-1 mission in 2019. Into space. Today’s recovery is also the 62nd level 1 booster recovery since SpaceX successfully recovered the booster for the first time in 2015.
This launch has enabled SpaceX to send more than 800 “Starlink” satellites into space . The company’s CEO Elon Musk once said that this is the minimum number of satellites required for SpaceX to launch Internet services. Musk estimates that the “Starlink” service can generate 30 billion U.S. dollars in revenue each year, but no specific price has been announced yet.
SpaceX is currently conducting non-public testing, and company employees have begun testing broadband services. According to reports from SpaceX team members, current data shows that the entire network can support multiple high-definition video streams at the same time.
The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved SpaceX to launch up to 12,000 flat-panel broadband satellites , but the company said it will strive to launch up to 30,000 satellites to bring high-speed, low-latency Internet signals.
SpaceX currently manufactures Starlink satellites, user terminals and ground stations in Redmond, Washington. Although still in the testing phase, SpaceX has allowed external users to access its “Starlink” network. During the wildfires in August this year, the company worked with Washington State to provide emergency personnel with reliable Internet access.
As part of the recovery work, SpaceX also deployed two fairing recovery ships during the launch. All fairings used in this launch have been used three times. According to the company, both recovery vessels successfully captured half of the fairing, but the net on one vessel was still broken. SpaceX hopes to reuse the recovered fairing in future launches.
In the next step, SpaceX plans to launch a new batch of “Starlink” satellites from launch pad 40 before October 21. The company team is still investigating the engine abnormality that occurred on October 2, which caused SpaceX to suspend the launch of an upgraded GPS satellite.
This issue also delayed NASA’s plans for the next batch of astronauts. The astronauts are expected to fly to the International Space Station before mid-November, giving SpaceX more time to solve engine problems.
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