SpaceX Launches Another Fleet Of 52 Starlink Satellites To Expand Global Internet Coverage

SpaceX is building the world’s most advanced broadband satellite internet constellation in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The company aims to launch at least 12,000 Starlink satellites within the next five years to beam high-speed internet connection worldwide, including the most remote places on the planet. SpaceX founder Elon Musk believes it is important for everyone to have equal access to the internet because it opens a world of possibilities and knowledge for the user. Communities located in remote places around Earth are often undereducated because they are disconnected from the outside world and schools are far away. With Starlink, communities in remote regions can have equal access to education opportunities to improve their lives. 

SpaceX Starlink is already beaming Internet service to schools in Brazil's Amazon rainforest region where internet service was unreliable. "Education is the path out of poverty and Internet access enables education," said Musk. Around 40 million Brazilian people have no access to the Internet – that is around 19% of the population. SpaceX has also connected schools in remote mountain villages in Chile - Caleta Sierra and Sotomo, where geography has made it hard to access the internet with terrestrial internet infrastructures. As a space-based network, Starlink satellites can beam internet access anywhere around the planet directly to user terminal antennas. Starlink is already in use across 43 countries. Read more: SpaceX receives U.S. sanction exemptions to activate Starlink in Iran amid anti-government protests that led to Internet shutdown. On September 24, SpaceX launched another fleet of 52 Starlink satellites to expand global internet coverage. A flight-proven Falcon 9 lifted off at 7:32 p.m. ET from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.  

Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/xmjw89AMK6

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 24, 2022

The previously-flown rocket first-stage booster, identified as B1073-4, previously launched four missions, including: SES-22 and now three Starlink missions. The booster was recovered in order to be reused around 8-minutes after liftoff. The booster performed a propulsive landing on the 'A Shortfall of Gravitas' autonomous droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. It marked SpaceX’s 143rd landing of an orbital-class rocket and the 119th time the company has reflown a first-stage booster of its Falcon 9 Block 5 fleet.  

Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship pic.twitter.com/nQDzzulOFk

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 24, 2022

SpaceX is arranging Phase 1 of the Starlink constellation into five orbital shells with different orbital parameters. The 52 Starlink satellites that were deployed to orbit on Saturday belong to Group 4-35, the 28th launch into orbital Shell 4. The satellites that will operate in Shell 4 will be a total of 1,584 that will be orbiting at an altitude of 540-kilometers with an inclination of 53.2 degrees to the equator. SpaceX has launched a total of 3,399 satellites since 2019, of which only around 3,127 remain in orbit as of today, according to data by astronomer Jonathan McDowell. (See the table below for orbital parameter information of Phase 1 of the Starlink constellation.)

Featured Image Source: SpaceX