Cape Canaveral, fl. – SpaceX Another large batch will be launched Starlink satellites Today (September 17) into the orbit of the company’s growing megaconstellation, you can see the activity live online.
The California-based company has decided to add 60 Starlink Internet satellites to its workhorse. Falcon 9 rocket EDT (1819 GMT) just before 2:19 pm from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
you can Watch the launch live here On the homepage of space.com, the debit of SpaceX begins 15 minutes before the liftoff. You can too See the launch live via SpaceX.
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Today’s Flight, known as SpaceX Starlink 12, is actually the 13th largest batch of satellites the company has shot into space. However, the company The initial batch of 60 satellites orbits systematically It was launched in May 2019. That’s why SpaceX treats that initial bunch as a series of experiments. So far, 26 real satellites have been dorbitated, eight in orbit and 26 in operation.
SpaceX hopes to provide fast internet access to users around the world through the StarLink megaconstellation. By using a smaller terminal (not larger than a laptop), ground users can always connect to a growing network. Founder and CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk He said the company would need to launch 500 to 800 satellites to start the service.
To date, more than 700 Internet-lit satellites have been launched into orbit in an attempt to fill the initial galaxy of 1,440 space probes. SpaceX began to quickly test its space-based Internet service, and initial data seems to be better. Data collected so far indicates that the service will provide faster download and download speeds and allow users to stream multiple HD movies at the same time, company engineers said.
Starlink Broadband Internet is currently in a private beta testing phase, but SpaceX representatives said it will be available to the public to begin beta testing later this year.
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Today’s launch marks the 94th flight of SpaceX’s workhorse two – stage Falcon 9 rocket. A veteran Falcon 9 first stage at Liftof will be named B1058, which has two flights. This regular flyer was launched earlier Two NASA astronauts The same goes for the journey to the space station Communication satellite For the South Korean military.
Boosters that flew before the SpaceX are common, as the company proves the Falcon 9’s credibility. Today’s launch will be the second time one of the company’s veteran boosters will attempt to launch and land a sixth time.
SpaceX is the launch provider and customer of its Starlink missions, so it maintains a fast launch speed this summer and relies heavily on flight-proven boosters. In fact, the mission marks the 17th flight of 2020 for SpaceX, with Falcon 9 revenue The title of the most flown American rocket Earlier this year – a major rival snatched it from the United Launch Alliance Atlas V.
To date, SpaceX has successfully launched its first phase boosters 60 times. The company now has two fully functional drone-ship landing platforms – “Off course I still love you” and “Just read the instructions” – to launch (and land) more rockets in Florida. The latest drone ship in the block, “Just Read Instructions” is already in the recovery zone, waiting for the opportunity to catch B1051 when it returns to Earth this afternoon.
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Today’s weather forecast looks like iffy; Officers from the 45th Weather Squadron of the U.S. Air Force Predicting 60% chance of launch conditions. The temperature in this area should be 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29 degrees Celsius), which is prone to cumulus and unwin clouds.
If the mission fails to land today, there will be a backup attempt tomorrow (September 18). However, the weather is likely to get worse as there is only a 40% chance of favorable liftoff conditions as storms are expected in the area on Friday.
In today’s flight, SpaceXX will continue the tradition of Falcon 9 payload fairing or nose cone recovery. The company has already deployed dual net equipped boats called Geo Miss Tree and Geo Miss Chief. Fairs When they fall to the ground in two pieces.
Each piece of hardware, such as the clamshell, which costs about $ 6 million, includes software that navigates to the recovery area, as well as a parachute system or GS that allows it to land smoothly at sea. Tree netting and G.S. Chief.
Part of the fair on this mission has already flown twice, saving two different Starlink payloads – one in May 2019 and one in March 2020.
Edit: This story was updated by EDT at 9:55 am to list the Falcon 9 rocket used properly in this mission.
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