SpaceX brings number of Starlink satellites in space to 300 after new launch – IT Pro – News

SpaceX has successfully launched a new shipment of Starlink satellites into space. This brings the total number of these internet satellites to around 300. The final number of satellites of this fast internet network should be a multiple thereof.

SpaceX says have confirmation of the successful decoupling of the 60 satellites in space and also showed images of it. This is the fifth launch with which a series of sixty satellites has been launched into space with a Falcon 9 rocket. A booster was used that has flown three times before; SpaceX has done that three times before. The first launch took place in May of last year.

The goal is to create a network that consists of many of these small, 260 kg internet satellites. Initially, the number should be 1584 satellites, but the company has permission from the FCC to increase that number to 12,000. SpaceX also hopes to get permission to further increase that number to 42,000. These satellites must make fast internet possible everywhere on earth.

Not everything went entirely according to plan. The first rocket stage had to land on the drone ship called Of Course I Still Love You. That would have been the fiftieth successful vertical landing of a rocket ladder, but the booster landed next to the ship in the ocean. According to SpaceX it was a soft landing and it took place right next to the ship.

This failure is largely due to the fact that this time for the first time SpaceX disconnected the Starlink satellites, fifteen minutes after the release of the Californian soil, already after the first ignition period of the second rocket stage. At the earlier launches, the satellites were only released after 61 minutes. The newly launched satellites thus enter an elliptical orbit around the earth and use their ion motors to reach the desired altitude of 550 km. This deviating launch profile must result in savings in areas such as fuel and launch costs.

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