SpaceX launches 60 Starling satellites and completes sea landing – SpaceX-cnbeta.com

March 25, Morning News, Beijing Time, according to reports,SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Rocket 60 has successfully launched a new set of Starling Internet satellites into orbit, perfecting the company’s latest successful mission.The Falcon 9, which has been recycled several times, was launched from Cosmodrome 40 at 4:28 a.m. at the Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida.

About 9 minutes later, the first stage of the rocket returned to Earth, completing its sixth successful landing. SpaceX’s unmanned ship “Of course I still love you” (of course I still love you) provides a landing platform for rocket recovery in the Atlantic Ocean.

This is the fourth Starling satellite launch mission performed by SpaceX this month. Currently, the company is gradually upgrading its Internet satellite galaxy program, which initially plans to place 1440 satellites. In the end, the galaxy may contain tens of thousands of satellites because SpaceX has the right to launch 30,000 satellites and may choose to launch more in the future.

On the day of the voyage the weather in Florida was slightly cloudy, and the flames of the Falcon 9 rocket illuminated the sky. The weather forecasters of the 45th Meteorological Team predicted that the weather conditions would be excellent at the time of launch. The only weather concern is the possibility of cumulus clouds, but the final weather conditions did not disappoint us.

SpaceX Production Director Andy Tron (Andy Tron) said: “This mission is the sixth landing of the rocket booster and the 78th of all boosters.”

Tron said the launch coincides with the 15th anniversary of SpaceX’s first launch. In that mission 15 years ago, the company’s Falcon 1 rocket plane ended in failure. He added: “So far, the Falcon 9 has flown successfully more than 100 times, and the first phase of the rocket has been recovered 78 times. Since the first plane failed, we have made great strides.”

In today’s launch mission, the rocket’s booster is named P1060. This is one of the six boosters of the Falcon 9. Booster has completed 6 flights, which can be described as “experienced” with 6 missions. In addition, the booster launched a GPS III satellite for the US military in June 2020 and a communications satellite to Turkey in January this year.

In fact, the U.S. This is the first time the military has allowed SpaceX to retrieve rockets. On previous military missiles, SpaceX would discard the booster after delivering the payload. Recently, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has also adopted this approach, allowing SpaceX to reuse its rockets for group missions. Upcoming Crew-2 work will begin after April 22nd. This is the first manned flight in human history using recovered and refurbished rockets, and the mission will also use the reusable Crew Dragon spacecraft. (Crew Dragon).

Wednesday’s launch mission is SpaceX’s ninth mission since 2021, and Booster’s third mission this year. It last performed its work on February 4, and the engineers spent within 50 days.

Currently the company is already using an air-proven rocket fleet, which allows SpaceX to continue its rapid launch rhythm. But while booster recovery is an added benefit, the company’s main goal is to carry all the loads carried by the rocket into space.

This launch was the 112th flight performed by all Falcon 9 rockets and the 58th mission performed by all B1060s. So far, every launch of SpaceX in 2021 has been carried out on a proven rocket, marking the fourth successful landing of SpaceX. On February 15, the company lost a rocket that flew six times because one of the rocket engines stopped working during the flight and then failed to land on the drone.

Later, SpaceX stated that the cause of this unusual event was the wear of the engine cover so that hot gas could not escape. Thus one of the engines of the Falcon 9 was shut down during the flight. The rocket was originally designed with this problem in mind. It should have been able to complete the mission without a machine. However, it could not have slowed itself down and landed on the unmanned ship, but was able to go headlong into the deep sea.

In 2018, SpaceX launched an updated version of the Falcon 9 rocket. At the time, they said they expected the first phase of each Falcon 9 to fly about 10 times, with no need to update during this time, and fly further before it could retire. Up to 100 times.

The other booster of SpaceX is very close to reaching this milestone, with its ninth release and landing last week. B1051 is the captain of the Navy and may make a historic assignment in the future.

Galaxy competition

Since this successful launch, SpaceX has successfully launched more than 1,300 Starling satellites into orbit. In the future, the company will launch more satellites. Currently, the company is in the process of getting approval to launch tens of thousands of other satellites.

The company’s main mission to establish this largest satellite galaxy is to connect the world. To achieve this goal, SpaceX has designed flat-panel broadband satellites flying over the earth to provide Internet security to users around the world. Especially those in rural and remote areas, traditional internet broadband operators cannot provide access services in these areas.

The Starling project is still in the testing phase, and SpaceX is working hard to repair its initial galaxy. Some users from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany and New Zealand may already have tried this service. SpaceX is currently accepting pre-orders and is preparing to launch a comprehensive business service later this year. Users can now register on the company’s website and pay a $ 99 deposit to book the service.

However, SpaceX is not the only company offering similar services. London-based OneWeb is preparing to launch its own products. If all goes well, a Russian Soyuz 2.1B rocket will launch 36 OneWeb satellites into space on Wednesday, US time. The company launched its most recent mission in December last year.

OneWeb plans to launch 9 aircraft, launching a total of 650 Internet satellites into space. So far, the company has completed 5 launch missions. With the exception of SapceX and OneWeb, Amazon and Telstar have Internet satellite programs, but neither company has yet introduced any hardware.

This morning, SpaceX’s new unmanned spacecraft, the Shelia Portellan, was also unveiled, launching the rocket’s payload justice out of the water. SpaceX fans were overjoyed when the bright pink and blue ship sailed into Port Canaveral and landed on the SpaceX dock. It is not clear whether the ship will join the Navy permanently or provide short-term assistance.