SpaceX has marked its 250th dedicated Starlink launch with a breathtaking photo showing its Falcon 9 rocket heading to orbit.
Our 250th dedicated @Starlink launch pic.twitter.com/GeYzZ9CzxB
The long-exposure image shows the rocket on its way to space, and also includes numerous star trails and bright lights along Florida’s Space Coast.
The mission got underway on Sunday shortly after 10 p.m. ET from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The Falcon 9 was carrying 23 Starlink satellites, including 13 with direct-to-cell capabilities, to low-Earth orbit.
The first dedicated Starlink launch took place in May 2019, deploying the initial batch of 60 operational satellites for the Starlink internet service. Since then, SpaceX has significantly increased the Starlink mission frequency, enabling it to rapidly expand its constellation over the last six years.
The satellite deployments have all been carried out by SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket. Mission costs have been significantly reduced by reusing the first-stage boosters for multiple missions. The company also recovers and reuses the rocket fairings, further enhancing efficiency and reducing expenses.
SpaceX now has more than 8,000 Starlink satellites orbiting Earth, bringing high-speed broadband internet to more than 5 million customers around the world. The Elon Musk-led company is aiming to deploy around 12,000 satellites, though it has regulatory approval for a possible expansion up to 34,400 satellites. Although Starlink’s current constellation already provides global coverage, expanding it even further will boost elements such as network capacity, speed, and reliability, leading to an improved user experience.
Sunday’s mission was the 20th flight for the first-stage Falcon 9 booster, which previously launched Crew-5, GPS III Space Vehicle 06, Inmarsat I6-F2, CRS-28, Intelsat G-37, NG-20, TD7, and 12 Starlink missions.
SpaceX is already gearing up for its next Starlink launch, which is scheduled to take place on Monday, April 28, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Liftoff is targeted for 1:39 p.m. PT.
After 13 suborbital test flights and more than $15 billion in development costs, SpaceX's Starship has finally reached orbit. The 407-foot megarocket, the most powerful ever built, lifted off from Starbase, Texas, on Monday and delivered its first real payload on it's 14th attempt. The celebration came with an asterisk, though, since SpaceX had to cut the planned 10-hour mission to roughly three hours.
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/2104601695711904180
SpaceX is finally ready to give Starship its biggest test yet. The company says the massive rocket's 14th test flight is scheduled for September 22, when it will attempt to put the upper stage into Earth orbit for the first time. The launch is currently pending regulatory approval, with a 75-minute window opening at 7:15 a.m. CT.
Starship has 26 Starlink satellites to deliver
For decades, humanity has looked up at the Moon and wondered what it would be like to live on it. Think sprawling cities, factories, research centers, and permanent human settlements. Unfortunately, there is one fairly fundamental problem with that vision.
A new study published in Frontiers in Space Technologies argues that even the Moon's potentially enormous reserves of frozen water may be nowhere near enough to support city-sized populations sustainably. Researchers Martin Elvis and Jonathan McDowell estimate that the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles could contain roughly one billion tons of water. It sounds like an extraordinary amount until you put a million thirsty humans next to it.