SpaceX delays the sending of 60 satellites for high-speed internet

Miami – The company Spacex it postponed the launch of its fifth batch of 60 Starlink satellites from Florida as part of a program planned for this year that needs at least 400 satellites in orbit to offer minimal high-speed internet coverage worldwide.

Standing down from tomorrow’s Starlink launch; team is taking a closer look at a second stage valve component. Now targeting Monday, February 17.

– SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 15, 2020

The launch, which was scheduled for this Sunday morning and using a Falcon 9 rocket as a propellant, was postponed at least 24 hours, reported the company via Twitter.

The mission was prepared on a platform of the Space Launch Complex 40 of the US Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral (Florida).

“The team is looking more closely at a second stage valve component. Now pointing to Monday, February 17”, SpaceX said in its account of the aforementioned social network.

Due to inclement weather, this release, which follows another of the same type made at the end of January, had already been canceled on Saturday, according to the company.

This weekend has been very rainy in South Florida, although rain is expected to subside in the next few hours.

The purpose of SpaceX is to finally place about 1,584 satellites in Earth’s orbit, about 549 kilometers above the earth, a distance much smaller than usual for these commercial devices.

The main objective of the Starlink project is to provide high-speed and constant internet to users around the world through this constellation of satellites that will operate in a low orbit, which will allow a better connection and service.

The company of tycoon Elon Musk made the so-called “static fire test” with veteran Falcon 9 last Friday, he said on Twitter.

SpaceX has followed that method since 2016, when a Falcon 9 exploded on the launch pad, destroying its satellite payload during preparations.

That explosion was attributed to problems with the composite wrapping pressure vessels (COPV) in the upper stage of the rocket, according to Space.com.

COPVs are responsible for keeping the pressurized rocket during the flight as the fuel runs out.

Since then, the company has redesigned the COPVs and started using them when they started flying the Block 5 version of Falcon 9 in May 2018.

On the other hand, at the beginning of last January SpaceX successfully carried out an unmanned test with the Crew Dragon capsule to check the ship’s abandonment system in case of accident or danger to the occupants during take-off.

That test in full flight was one of the necessary that had to meet the company founded by Musk – who is also the owner of the car manufacturer Tesla – to launch the first commercial flights to space with humans.

Trips with the Crew Dragon manned are scheduled to begin in the near future with the shipment to the International Space Station (ISS) of NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley.

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