SpaceX successfully launches 60 prototype Starlink satellites
Capitalsm in space: SpaceX this morning successfully launched 60 prototype Starlink satellites as the first part of their planned constellation of thousands of satellites designed to provide worldwide internet access.
The first stage, already used twice before, landing successfully on their drone ship. You can watch the launch here.
The leaders in the 2019 launch race:
7 China
6 SpaceX
4 Europe (Arianespace)
3 Russia
3 India
The U.S. now leads China 11 to 7 in the national rankiings.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Capitalsm in space: SpaceX this morning successfully launched 60 prototype Starlink satellites as the first part of their planned constellation of thousands of satellites designed to provide worldwide internet access.
The first stage, already used twice before, landing successfully on their drone ship. You can watch the launch here.
The leaders in the 2019 launch race:
7 China
6 SpaceX
4 Europe (Arianespace)
3 Russia
3 India
The U.S. now leads China 11 to 7 in the national rankiings.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Reused first stage. Soon, the Starlink missions will have reused fairings.
Cheapest existing booster to launch the constellation, and they probably get the internal rate, and they are willing to use all the reused components for even bigger cost savings.
Hard to imagine anyone beating their launch costs!
And once Starship is ready to launch them, even better deal.
Here’s amazing video of the train of Starlink satellites viewed from Leiden, the Netherlands
https://vimeo.com/338361997
Steve–
good stuff!
When I saw the array of satellites neatly stacked in the launch configuration, I thought it would be a neat deployment with satellites launched one at a time in all directions. Instead, the upper stage started rotating, and they just floated away as a blob. Interesting that they’re now in a long line.
Another view from the Netherlands, less detailed than Steve’s post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2XPjOs5qYQ&feature=youtu.be