A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket recently aided in delivering another batch of 60 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit, as the internet-beaming network already received half a million pre-orders.
SpaceX said the satellites - the 29th Starlink batch to date - were successfully deployed approximately an hour after liftoff. More than 1,700 flat-packed spacecraft have been transported to low-Earth orbit by Falcon 9 rockets launched from Florida and California.
"To date, over half a million people have placed an order or put down a deposit for Starlink," Youmei Zhou, a SpaceX propulsion engineer, said in a Sattelite Today report. "With every launch, we get closer to connecting more people across the world," Zhou added during a webcast leading up to the 2:59 p.m. launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Starlink Starts Expanding Services In Europe
According to Tesmanian, SpaceX has begun taking orders in Belgium and the Netherlands, demonstrating Starlink's modest but steady expansion toward worldwide coverage. Currently, services are available in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, and a few other parts of continental Europe.
The Starlink team in Seattle intends to increase speeds, dependability, and latency with each launch. However, worldwide expansion remains the primary goal. SpaceX will need thousands of more satellites orbiting 350 miles above the Earth's surface to provide global coverage.
Beyond that, SpaceX will have to supplement the constellation with steady launches regularly to combat orbital degradation caused by friction with the upper atmosphere.
SpaceX Falcon 9 Lands On Just Read The Instructions Drone Ship Again
SpaceX's 16th mission of the year, the second launch for this precise booster, and the corporation's 85th successful landing, this time on the Just Read the Instructions drone ship, took out from Launch Complex 40 on Wednesday.
Science Times previously explained that JRTI is an autonomous spaceport drone ship. It's a modified barge with a big landing pad, station-keeping thrusters, and other amenities.
The barge assists SpaceX in landing rockets at sea on high-velocity flights that lack sufficient fuel to return to the launch pad.
JRTI was deployed to a brand-new droneship based in California. It was built at a unique Louisiana shipyard with the other SpaceX droneship known as the "Of Course I Still Love You."
SpaceX's Falcon 9 landing on the Just Read the Instructions is another achievement for the firm, which is always experimenting with its rockets and looking for new methods to enhance them in order to make space travel more inexpensive and successful. Apart from rockets, SpaceX Starlink has been making headway toward its objective of supplying low-orbit satellites with foreign satellite internet connectivity.
Space Coast Hosted at Least 15 Launches
So far in 2021, the Space Coast has hosted 17 launches, with an increased cadence expected for June, with SpaceX and United Launch Alliance preparing for a total of five flights.
The first Falcon 9 launch, scheduled for 1:29 p.m. on June 3, would carry supplies for the International Space Station on a Cargo Dragon spacecraft launched from Kennedy Space Center. The Space Force will launch a SiriusXM radio satellite, GPS spacecraft, and multi-payload mission this month, though exact dates are still being worked out.
Meanwhile, ULA's most powerful Atlas V rocket, equipped with five solid rocket boosters, is set to fly a multi-payload Space Force mission known as Space Test Program-3 on June 23. The exact time has yet to be announced.
To know more about the next launches this year, SpaceCoastLaunches.com has shared a schedule. The website, however, clarified that launch dates are still tentative and subject to change.
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