SpaceX successfully launches another 49 Starlink satellites
Capitalism in space: SpaceX successfully completed its third launch in four days today, launching 49 Starlink satellites into orbit on its Falcon 9 rocket.
At the time of writing, the satellites themselves have not yet deployed. The first stage, flying its sixth mission, landed successfully. The two fairing halves were flying their sixth and fourth flights.
The 2022 launch race:
6 SpaceX
2 China
1 Virgin Orbit
1 ULA
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Capitalism in space: SpaceX successfully completed its third launch in four days today, launching 49 Starlink satellites into orbit on its Falcon 9 rocket.
At the time of writing, the satellites themselves have not yet deployed. The first stage, flying its sixth mission, landed successfully. The two fairing halves were flying their sixth and fourth flights.
The 2022 launch race:
6 SpaceX
2 China
1 Virgin Orbit
1 ULA
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
This also marks 112 consecutive successful flights, most of which were flown on re-used boosters. That’s the highest number of consecutive successes of any rocket, past or present.
A somewhat more useless factoid: Falcon 9 has flown as many successful flights as the Space Shuttle, in one-third the time.
BTW, Bob, Eric Berger has a beautiful entry candidate for your “Capitalism in Space” update files today. Falcon 9 has not only flown more times than the Shuttle in a third of the time (all while iterating to develop first stage landing and reuse!), but it now has more consecutive successful launches than any other launch vehicle in history (112). And at such a low cost!
Amazing what entrepreneurship can accomplish, isn’t it?
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/02/spacexs-falcon-9-rocket-has-set-a-record-for-most-consecutive-successes/
P.S. I see Diane has the same reading bookmarks as I do!
Sadly it will will not match R-7 that has launched 2000 times or so. You’d think the coking free SSME’s could have been turned around faster.
Starship will probably be the one to beat the R-7 record. If they really want a million people on Mars by the end of the century, they will need at least ten thousand starship launches, probably a lot more.
From the Ars Technica article:
Also not included in this launch tally is the partial failure of a Falcon 9 rocket on another, though earlier, ISS supply mission, in which the supply mission was completed, but due to an engine failure, the secondary payload was not released into orbit, as it may have endangered the ISS.
It is hard to find a comparable tally, but three payloads were lost atop three different Falcon 9 rockets.
The conclusion of the article is telling:
It was a mere seven years ago that people were doubting the economics and safety of reusing these boosters.
One Hundred and Five….
Successful Landing recoveries……
The Fifties! Has now arrived…
In 2022 !!!
What happened here?
“Fireballs over Puerto Rico likely from doomed Starlink batch”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUlAz_Oxv4Q
The sun defended the astronomers against Musk’s insolence!
“How the sun JUST destroyed 40 SpaceX Starlink satellites”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUqOZLIiKpQ
questioner–
interesting stuff.
a quick backgrounder….
“How Do Starlink Satellites Navigate To Their Final Operational Orbits?”
Scott Manley (august 2021)
https://youtu.be/VIQr1UyhwWk
12:34
Questioner–
“SpaceX Loses 40 Satellites To Solar Storm”
Scott Manley (Feb 9, 2022)
https://youtu.be/9kIcEFyEPgA
11:02