Mother Nature cooperated with SpaceX’s new Starlink mission.
SpaceX unveiled 54 Starlink broadband satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Sunday, Sept. 18 at 8:18 p. m. m. EDT (00:18 GMT on September 19) after consecutive days of cleaning up in bad weather.
A SpaceX Falcon nine rocket carried Starlink Group 4-34 satellites into low-Earth orbit, deploying them as planned (opens in a new tab) about 15. 5 minutes after liftoff. Before that happened, however, the first level of the rocket returned to Earth and landed on SpaceX’s Just Read the Instructions drone, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. This is the sixth launch and landing of this specific booster, SpaceX wrote in a project description (opens in a new tab).
Related: SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellation launches in photos
Starlink is SpaceX’s broadband satellite constellation. The company has put more than 3200 satellites into orbit to date. SpaceX is rapidly expanding the constellation, with launches almost every week, and infrequently more than that.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently said he hopes to launch up to a hundred SpaceX missions in 2023. The purpose is, in part, to push Starlink’s service as temporarily as possible to the remote consumers the company needs to serve.
SpaceX already has regulatory approval to launch 12,000 Starlink satellites. The company also asked a foreign regulator to send 30,000 satellites into orbit.
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The company is also expanding the types of consumers Starlink serves.
SpaceX recently announced a collaboration with T-Mobile to bring broadband service directly to mobile phones. In addition, SpaceX signed with Royal Caribbean to offer Starlink on cruise ships, to the web service at sea.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 9:45 p. m. m. Y on the thirteenth of September with the new release date of September 14. SpaceX had planned to launch the project on September thirteen, but canceled the attempt due to weather conditions. It was updated to return to 20h50. ET on September 14 with the new release date of September 15. Bad weather cancelled attempts scheduled for Sept. 14, Sept. 15, and Sept. 16. September 14 attempt as well. It was updated on September 15, after bad weather forced another scrub. This story was also updated at 8:13 p. m. EDT on September 16 to reflect a new launch time, and at 9:15 p. m. m. EDT of September 16 in relation to cleaning. This story was updated on September 17 at 6:55 p. m.
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Elizabeth Howell, Ph. D. , has been the air chain’s staff editor since 2022. He contributed to the writing of Space. com (opens new window) for 10 years, since 2012. As a proud trekkie and Canadian, she also tackles topics such as diversity, science fiction, astronomy, and games to help others explore the universe. Reports on Elizabeth’s site include two manned spaceflight launches from Kazakhstan, 3 round-trip projects to Florida, and built-in reports of a simulated Mars. He holds a Ph. D. and M. Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota and a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Carleton University in Canada. Elizabeth has also been a postsecondary science and communication instructor since 2015. Elizabeth first became interested in the area after seeing the movie Apollo Thirteen in 1996, and still needs to be an astronaut someday.
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