SpaceX successfully launched another 60 Starlink Internet satellites on the 16th, for a total of 1,145, which is close to its initial goal of 1,440. However, in a rare mishap, the Falcon 9’s first stage booster failed to land on the “Of course I still love you” drone ship and may have fallen into the ocean. Unfortunately, we didn’t recover the booster, but our second stage is still on a normal orbit,” said Jessica Anderson, a SpaceX engineer. “
SpaceX has not yet disclosed what happened to the booster, but it appears to have encountered problems near the end of the landing burn. It has flown two ISS resupply missions, launched U.S. spy satellites and Argentina’s Earth observation satellite, and boosted another Starlink mission. Although B1059 failed to complete its sixth mission, SpaceX has always said that the primary launch mission was the key and that the landing was more or less an added bonus.
Despite the failure, SpaceX could launch another 60 Starlink satellites as early as this Wednesday. Elon Musk has said there are about 500-800 satellites that need to be in orbit before Internet service can be launched. While the initial goal was for about 1,440 satellites, SpaceX eventually plans to launch a total of 12,000 satellites.
According to SpaceX FCC filings, public Beta testing of Starlink Internet began in late 2020 for people in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. More than 10,000 customers have used the service in the past three months. spaceX has begun charging a $99 deposit for the service and recently told the Australian government that it will be able to cover major continents by early 2021 and external territories by 2022.
Recent Comments