Featured Image Source: SpaceX
SpaceX is ready to launch the twenty-third Starlink mission tomorrow morning. It will be the fourth satellite fleet deployed this month. The company plans to launch 60 internet-beaming satellites atop a previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket on, March 24, at 4:28 a.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex-40 in Florida. A backup launch date is also scheduled for Thursday, March 25 at 4:06 a.m. EDT. The United States Space Force 45th Weather Squadron forecasts 90% favorable weather conditions during the predawn liftoff time. You can watch the mission live in the video linked below.
The booster that will launch this mission is identified as B1060, it is filled with scorch marks because it previously flew five times as part of the company’s reusability program, which aims to reuse Falcon 9 boosters ten times to decrease the cost of spaceflight. “The Falcon 9 first stage rocket booster supporting this mission previously supported launch of the GPS-III Space Vehicle 03 and Turksat 5A missions in addition to three Starlink missions,” SpaceX said. The company will attempt to recover B1060 a sixth time by landing it on the ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ droneship located in the Atlantic Ocean. “One half of Falcon 9’s fairing supported the Sentinel-6A mission and the other supported a previous Starlink mission,” they announced. Soon after the mission, the fairing halves are expected to fall from space and perform a parachute-assisted splashdown along Florida’s coast. The fairing halves will be recovered from the water around 707-kilometers downrange by a boat called ‘Shelia Bordelon.’
The 60 Starlink satellites will be released by Falcon 9’s second stage approximately 1-hour after liftoff. All satellites will operate in low Earth orbit. This week’s deployment will increase the Starlink constellation size to around 1,385 satellites. SpaceX is already accepting broadband service pre-orders worldwide via Starlink.com. Company officials said the network will connect “most of Earth” this year and the entire globe by 2022. Then they will focus on increasing the network’s performance by launching more satellites. Overall, the constellation will have 12,000 satellites beaming internet connection to the entire planet, even remote places where connection is unavailable.
Featured Image Source: SpaceX
About the Author
Evelyn Arevalo
Evelyn J. Arevalo joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover news as a Space Journalist and SpaceX Starbase Texas Correspondent. Evelyn is specialized in rocketry and space exploration. The main topics she covers are SpaceX and NASA.
