Elon Musk Shares SpaceX Will Launch Starlink Satellites Aboard Starship Once It's Operational

Featured Image Source: Created by @ErcXspace via Twitter

SpaceX will provide Starlink satellite broadband internet service globally to fund the development of a fleet of 1,000 Starships that will enable astronauts to build the first colony on Mars. The broadband constellation will be comprised of at least 12,000 satellites that will beam high-speed internet connection down to millions of Starlink user terminals on Earth. To date, the company has deployed around 1,737 Starlink satellites in orbit providing Beta service to select-customers living in regions of the United States and abroad. Currently, SpaceX is only capable of launching 60 satellites atop its partially reusable Falcon 9 [Block 5] rocket fleet. The company launches the flat satellites in a tight configuration inside the 13-meter-long by 5.2-meter-wide fairing at least twice per month. For the past couple of months, SpaceX has increased its launch rate with an average of one mission every eight days.

SpaceX’s next-generation launch vehicle, Starship, will be capable of launching hundreds of satellites on a single mission. On Thursday, SpaceX founder Elon Musk was asked whether the company plans to continue using its Falcon 9 fleet for Starlink missions once Starship is operational, to which Musk responded that –“Starlink missions will move to Starship,” he shared via Twitter.

Starlink missions will move to Starship

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 10, 2021

Starship is under development in South Texas. Engineers aim to develop a fully reusable two-stage Starship consisting of a 50-meter-tall spacecraft and a powerful, 70-meter-tall Super Heavy rocket booster. The gigantic launch vehicle will be able to transport 100 passengers to space destinations, also propelling to orbit over 100 tons of cargo. According to SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, Starship will be capable of accommodating 400 Starlink satellites per launch! Starship will enable the company to accomplish launching 12,000 satellites to orbit at a faster rate than Falcon 9. “The standard Starship payload fairing is 9 meters in outer diameter resulting in the largest usable payload volume of any current or in development launcher,” the company stated. The payload fairing will have an extended volume option capable of accommodating payloads as long as 22 meters. No other spacecraft currently operating is that large, the feature would enable companies to deploy entire constellations of satellites to orbit on a single launch.

Starlink satellites will have limited lifespans of around 5 years, intentionally designed to burn-up in Earth’s atmosphere as they reach their use limit. Shotwell said in 2019 that SpaceX will continuously upgrade the broadband network by rapidly deploying new satellites aboard Starship. “The satellites will be limited in their life because the longer you want the satellites to live on orbit the more money you put have to put into it,” Shotwell said. “We will be continually launching these satellites to refresh the technology, to address any issues with the satellites, to put up ones that are working better in its place.”

Musk is confident that SpaceX will accomplish developing a space-ready Starship before 2023. He previously said that Starship will conduct “hundreds” of cargo missions before launching astronauts, so, its likely dozens of Starship’s first orbital missions will be dedicated to Starlink satellite deployments.

Featured Image Source: Created by @ErcXspace via Twitter