SpaceX will launch the next batch of Starlink satellites on Sunday (Feb. 28) as part of a mission to increase the company's satellite-internet fleet. You can watch the said launch online.
The California-based corporation plans to fire one of its Falcon 9 rockets for the eighth time, tying the previous record. If all goes according to schedule, the two-stage rocket will blast off from NASA's iconic Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:37 p.m. EST.
This mission was scheduled to begin on Feb. 17 after several delays. Still, it was once again delayed after booster B1059 declined to land after the Starlink v1.0 L19 mission.
Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX's outgoing Vice President of Mission Assurance, cited "heat damage" as the root cause of the failed recovery at the 47th Spaceport Summit on Feb. 23, but declined to include any further data.
SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch: What Are The Mission Preparations?
Falcon 9 successfully performed a static fire test before launch, according to NASASpaceFlight, after an aborted static fire two days ago. There was no need for Falcon 9 to return to its hangar and collect its payload before launch because its payload was already incorporated, as is normal on Starlink missions.
Starlink v1.0 L17 launches after the L18 and L19 missions due to technological, weather, and droneship-related delays. This is the first time a Starlink mission has been launched out of order, but it is far from a first in spaceflight; the Space Shuttle program was infamous for having a lot of mission numbers that were impossible to grasp.
Following the landing failure of Starlink v1.0 L19 and the almost month-long launch wait following the previous static fire, SpaceX agreed to perform another static fire test on Feb. 24 at 3:00 AM local time. The organization announced it was a success several hours later.
What to Expect?
As a trial service, Digital Trends said the Starlink project has started to offer internet connectivity to a limited number of users in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. SpaceX announced that it will improve its scope in the coming months. Elon Musk's company has also released more specifics about the offerings and rates that will be available.
During the pandemic, the need for stable internet coverage has become much more urgent, especially in rural areas for educational purposes.
"In December, the Wise County Public School District in rural Virginia, where approximately 40% of teachers and students do not have internet access at home, announced it would provide some families in the area with Starlink to support remote learning," SpaceX wrote on its website recently. "Starlink units were deployed in January and over 40 homes are now connected with high-speed internet."
How to Watch?
Today's launch will be SpaceX's 20th Starlink flight. It will launch another 60 satellites for the company's ever-expanding Starlink satellite internet constellation. The 45th Weather Squadron at Cape Canaveral expects a 90 percent likelihood of launch-ready conditions. The 45th also expects a mild chance of bad weather at the booster's landing site, 633 kilometers downrange.
Starting about 15 minutes before liftoff, you can watch the launch live below, courtesy of SpaceX.
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