After two months of launch attempts, SpaceX has finally successfully launched its rocket having the heaviest payload to date aimed to provide internet globally from space through satellites.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket yesterday for its ‘Starlink’ mission. Having a mass of 18.5 tons (over 37,000 pounds), this is SpaceX’s heaviest launch until now for either Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy rocket.
The rocket contains 60 Starlink satellites, each 227kg, aiming to reach up in ‘very low Earth orbit’ at an altitude 440km. After about one hour and three minutes of launch, all the 60 satellites were successfully deployed and have slowly started to drift apart and are now online, reported Ars Technica.
All 60 Starlink satellites online, solar array deployment coming up soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2019
SpaceX plans to put up two groups of satellites into orbit: one batch of 4,409 satellites that will operate between 550km and 1,325km up, and the second batch of 7,518 satellites that will operate between 335km and 346km in altitude. A total of 11,297 satellites are expected to fly over Earth and provide internet connectivity to up to a million user terminals on surface, reported The Verge.
“This would provide connectivity to people that either don’t have any connectivity today, or where it’s extremely expensive and unreliable,” Musk says.
Starlink will connect the globe with reliable and affordable high-speed broadband services pic.twitter.com/dWVvPwVWU4
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 24, 2019
The firm plans to keep launching batches of 60 in upcoming years with the goal of launching between 1,000 to 2,000 satellites a year. Musk said that a dozen launches will bring ‘significant’ connectivity and 24 launches would bring near-worldwide service.
Moreover, as per CNBC, Musk believes that the launch of these satellites providing internet is how SpaceX will be able to generate enough revenue to realize its more ambitious goals of sending astronauts to Mars in order to establish a human colony.