SpaceX may conduct three rocket launches on Sunday

Featured Image Source: SpaceX

SpaceX may conduct three missions on the same day! The aerospace company announced today that its “Pending Range availability, targeting back-to-back Falcon 9 launches from Florida on Sunday, August 30—another flight of Starlink from LC-39A at 10:12 a.m. EDT followed by the SAOCOM 1B mission from SLC-40 at 7:18 p.m. EDT.” There is also a planned Starship test flight in South Texas. “Good chance something will slip, but, yeah, Sunday is intense,” the founder of SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk said.

Good chance something will slip, but, yeah, Sunday is intense

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 28, 2020

If SpaceX is approved by the Air Force range, a previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket will launch the 12th fleet of internet-beaming Starlink satellites Sunday morning from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39A. The U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron predicts 50% favorable weather conditions for the morning’s launch attempt. Upon mission completion, SpaceX would have around 700 Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit, and be a couple of missions away from offering broadband service to portions of northern United States and Canada before this year ends. Company officials stated 800 satellites are required to offer “moderate” internet coverage. The Starlink network will connect individuals living in rural areas across the world where internet is unreliable and non-existent by 2021.

Weather is 50% favorable for liftoff of Starlink and 40% for SAOCOM 1B

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 28, 2020

Later Sunday evening, SpaceX will conduct a mission for CONAE, the 'National Space Activities Commission' of Argentina; It is the government's space agency in charge of space programs. The mission will consist of deploying SAOCOM-1B, an Earth-imaging satellite into Polar Orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Weather for the evening's launch is currently 40% favorable with the primary concern being “threat of evening thunderstorms and associated cloudiness over the launch area,” according to the 45th Weather Squadron. Florida’s coast has not conducted rocket flights to Polar Orbit in a bit over half a century. A Falcon 9 rocket will lift off at 7:18 p.m. EDT. About nine minutes after liftoff, SpaceX plans to land the rocket’s first-stage booster on Landing Zone 1, it will be the first booster to on land on solid ground since March.

On Sunday, engineers may also attempt to test launch Starship SN6, a stainless-steel prototype that will pave the way towards the development of SpaceX’s next-generation launch vehicle. According to the South Texas Cameron County website, road closures indicate Starship may be launched sometime between 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. CDT (local), with back-up opportunities scheduled for August 31 and September 1^st. Starship SN6 is expected to conduct a low-altitude test flight of around 150-kilometers above Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville, TX. Earlier this month, the company successfully launched a previous prototype, as a production line of Starships are under construction. Engineers aim to make launching and landing Starships routine.

Starship is SpaceX’s greatest ambition; It is under development to replace all of the company’s spacecraft one day. Starship will be capable of transporting around 150 tons of payload to space, enabling SpaceX to deploy entire satellite constellations during a single launch. Starship will also have the capacity to transport 100 passengers to the moon and Mars. Every test flight at Boca Chica will take the company closer towards achieving this goal.