SpaceX yesterday launched another 23 Starlink satellitesSpaceX yesterday successfully launched 23 more Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
While the video link above says 23, a UPI report said the launch placed 22 satellites in orbit. I have no idea which is right, as the number of Starlinks on these launches range from 20 to 23.
The first stage completed its 19th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
105 SpaceX
48 China
11 Russia
11 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise now leads the rest of the world combined in successful launches 122 to 71, while SpaceX by itself now leads the entire world, including American companies, 105 to 88.
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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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
SpaceX yesterday successfully launched 23 more Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
While the video link above says 23, a UPI report said the launch placed 22 satellites in orbit. I have no idea which is right, as the number of Starlinks on these launches range from 20 to 23.
The first stage completed its 19th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
105 SpaceX
48 China
11 Russia
11 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise now leads the rest of the world combined in successful launches 122 to 71, while SpaceX by itself now leads the entire world, including American companies, 105 to 88.
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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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
”SpaceX yesterday successfully launched 23 more Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.”
This was just a few hours ago today as I write this, and the payload was a batch of 22 Starlink v2 minis launched to an inclination of 53 degrees.
More significantly, I think, is that it is the 100th successful Falcon 9 orbital launch of the calendar year. That’s quite a milestone.
I watched the landing on SpaceX.com, and I think it was the most off-center (but successful) landing I have seen. The booster landing legs appeared to straddle the large circle around the logo on the deck of the barge! This is ironic given the recent landing accuracy tour de force demonstrated by the Flight 5 Superheavy.
Interestingly, SpaceX in 2024 has now achieved 22 return to launch site (RTLS) landings, overtaking 2023, which had 21 for the whole year. (Number 22 was on OneWeb 20 on Oct. 20.)
This is a noteworthy aspect of how SpaceX has managed to increase its launch cadence this year. It’s not hard to see why Elon and his engineers are so keen to achieve recovery at the launch pad for Starship.
The Superheavy booster as designed is probably unable to be transported other than vertically, and on a special transport cradle that mimics the launch platform. That effectively means only a few kilometers, and in a controlled environment where other traffic can be managed.
Whether it would be cost effective to build a shipborne launch / catch tower is debatable, since the cost would be enormous and the unavoidable access to the maintenance site would be a more complex process and take longer.
If landing legs were incorporated, this movement limitation would probably still exist, so it makes sense to “land” the booster in a manner that allows it to be immediately attached to the launch pad or to the transport cradle. In other words words, catch it.
Not having landing gear of course significantly improves the thrust / weight ratio and thus increases the payload.