If you are currently seeing a row of little lights in the sky, as if they were a train, they are not UFOs, they are the new satellites of the Internet that already add to the hundreds that are in orbit.
SpaceX has just successfully launched a new group of 60 Starlink satellites into orbit and managed to land the propeller that took them into space on a drone ship located in the Atlantic Ocean, the first time that one of these devices is reused five times in a row. (It was used by two previous Starlink releases, for Iridium NEXT satellites and for Canadian satellites.)
The launch is the second in five days for Elon Musk’s aerospace company. Last Saturday, another Falcon 9 rocket brought the Crew Dragon capsule manned by astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station, in what was a historical mission for the United States.
Successful deployment of 60 Starlink satellites confirmed pic.twitter.com/adsQIKfT0F
– SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 4, 2020
SpaceX’s first attempt to reuse a booster five times had failed. When one of the fifth-time thrusters carried another 60 satellites in March, it experienced an engine failure as it soared into the sky. And even though it managed to put the cargo into orbit as planned, the propeller missed the landing point on the drone and was destroyed.
An investigation into the incident revealed that residues of a cleaning agent had become trapped in the engine, causing the failure. Since then, SpaceX has corrected its procedure.
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship – the first orbital class rocket booster to successfully launch and land five times! pic.twitter.com/WCiFyyGn7g
– SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 4, 2020
Today’s first stage propeller landing involved the drone ship called “Just Read the Instructions”, which finally saw some action after months of maintenance. The ship, previously based on the west coast, was first used in the Atlantic Ocean; and this is because the other drone ship, the main one called “Of Course I Still Love You”, was occupied on the Demo-2 mission last Saturday.
This is the first time that SpaceX has had both drone ships operating in the same ocean.
Heading for 12,000
With today’s launch – postponed from mid-May for various reasons – orbiting Starlink satellites soar to 482 in total.
SpaceX has plans to build a constellation of 12,000 satellites. The project is designed to provide high-speed Internet service to clients around the world, particularly those in remote areas with little access to technology.
Elon Musk said that at least 400 satellites are needed before Starlink can begin to have minimal internet coverage, and at least 800 to provide moderate coverage. The service could start operating at the end of the year.
Source: Space.com.
