SpaceX launches another 53 Starlink satellites
Capitalism in space: Earlier this morning SpaceX successfully launched 53 Starlink satellites, using its Falcon 9 rocket.
The first stage was flying its thirteenth flight, and supposedly landed successfully, though the stage’s video cut off just before landing, the drone ship video did not show it on the pad, and the confirmation of that landing was very late. It is possible it landed on a spot that the camera did not show, or that the landing occurred in the ocean and the stage was lost. We shall have to wait and see.
The leaders in the 2022 launch race:
28 SpaceX
21 China
8 Russia
4 Rocket Lab
4 ULA
The U.S. now leads China 40 to 21 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 40 to 35.
Readers!
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In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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Capitalism in space: Earlier this morning SpaceX successfully launched 53 Starlink satellites, using its Falcon 9 rocket.
The first stage was flying its thirteenth flight, and supposedly landed successfully, though the stage’s video cut off just before landing, the drone ship video did not show it on the pad, and the confirmation of that landing was very late. It is possible it landed on a spot that the camera did not show, or that the landing occurred in the ocean and the stage was lost. We shall have to wait and see.
The leaders in the 2022 launch race:
28 SpaceX
21 China
8 Russia
4 Rocket Lab
4 ULA
The U.S. now leads China 40 to 21 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 40 to 35.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
From the camera view aboard stage 1, it looked to me like they were going to miss the bullseye, and possibly miss the droneship entirely. But the SpaceX Twatter feed says, “Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship”, so maybe everything went okay after all.
Starlink now stands at 2,706 satellites in five orbital shells. That’s literally over half of all active sattellites in earth orbit, which is staggering to think about.
The TV advertisements for “HughesNet” satellite ISP claims they have the largest number of subscribers of any “satellite” service. I wonder if that’s still true?
The spat between Dish Network and Starlink over 5G frequency interference is mildly interesting. 5G seems to have interference with a LOT of other “near by” uses of the spectrum.
I hope soon there will be other customers for SpaceX beside the cousin-company, Starlink. What sorts of things can be done for/by individuals who can put a shoe-box sized payload into orbit? It’s, I hope, similar to the dawn of the personal computing age. Oh my, print your own greeting cards! Make a budget on the “spreadsheet”! Track your gas mileage!
E-mail!!!
I wonder what the killer app for small sat projects will be?