SpaceX successfully launches another 60 Starlink satellites
SpaceX early today successfully used its Falcon 9 rocket to place another 60 Starlink satellites into orbit, bringing that constellation to over 1,300 satellites.
The first stage landed successfully, for the sixth time. Both fairing halves were also reused, and their recovery method has now been simplified:
SpaceX has recently appeared to adjust its fairing recovery strategy. The ships previously dedicated to fairing catch attempts, GO Ms. Chief and GO Ms. Tree, have been stripped of their nets and arms, a possible sign that dry fairing recoveries will no longer be attempted. Post-splashdown recovery has proven to be fairly successful, as recent missions frequently use fairing halves that have flown once if not multiple times before.
The leaders in the 2021 launch race:
9 SpaceX
6 China
4 Russia
2 Rocket Lab
Counting all launches, the U.S. now leads China 13 to 6 in the national rankings.
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SpaceX early today successfully used its Falcon 9 rocket to place another 60 Starlink satellites into orbit, bringing that constellation to over 1,300 satellites.
The first stage landed successfully, for the sixth time. Both fairing halves were also reused, and their recovery method has now been simplified:
SpaceX has recently appeared to adjust its fairing recovery strategy. The ships previously dedicated to fairing catch attempts, GO Ms. Chief and GO Ms. Tree, have been stripped of their nets and arms, a possible sign that dry fairing recoveries will no longer be attempted. Post-splashdown recovery has proven to be fairly successful, as recent missions frequently use fairing halves that have flown once if not multiple times before.
The leaders in the 2021 launch race:
9 SpaceX
6 China
4 Russia
2 Rocket Lab
Counting all launches, the U.S. now leads China 13 to 6 in the national rankings.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. 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 was an important launch. With it SpaceX will be able to complete their interim configuration of 72 orbital planes of 18 satellites each. Once these satellites reach their operational orbits and complete on-orbit checkout, SpaceX should be able to start initial internet service almost everywhere. There will still be some signal drop-outs, depending on local geography, but they should be of pretty short duration.
With five more Starlink flights SpaceX will be able to complete their initial constellation of 72 planes of 22 satellites each, allowing them to offer full service over most of the globe. Two Starlink flights in April (along with Crew 2) and three in May will do it.
Then they wait on the FCC. The other orbits they have authorization to use they no longer want, and the FCC hasn’t approved their new configuration. The timing might work out. SpaceX has three non-Starlink flights a month from June through August, dropping down to two a month the rest of the year. Ramping up launches of a new Starlink design (the one with inter-satellite links) into new orbits starting in September might work out for everybody.
An amazing feat if they can pull it off, and they’re getting really close now.
It is crazy that a single American company is launching more payloads into space than any country’s national space program. And there are several more companies coming online soon. Fortunately I do not think that the regulatory environment is going to change much regardless of who the NASA administrator is or which party holds power.