SpaceX launched another 60 Starlink satellites and successfully returned the Falcon 9 stage. This was its eighth flight.
After two delayed launches, SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 launch vehicle today at 11:24 am Moscow time, placing another batch of 60 Starlink microsatellites into low Earth orbit. Unlike the last launch, when the first stage crashed into the water on return due to the shutdown of one of Merlin’s 9 engines, this time, everything went according to plan.
This first stage, B1049, was previously used in seven launches and was successfully returned to an unmanned barge called Of Course I Still Love You. This flight was the eighth launch of this accelerator. SpaceX has another stage that has been used in more than six launches – the B1051.
The company plans that all of its boosters will be used a minimum of 10 times with minor repairs between missions and as much as 100 times before retirement. The first accelerator is expected to go through 10 uses this year. The launch was originally scheduled for February 28, but the company postponed it 1.5 minutes before launch. Then the launch was postponed again.
The Starlink network is designed to provide Internet access by deploying thousands of low-mass vehicles in low-Earth orbit. SpaceX estimates that launching a total of 11,000 satellites and putting them into operation will cost $ 10 billion. But this will provide high-speed Internet access throughout the Earth. In May 2019, the first full-fledged launch was carried out under the Starlink program to launch 60 vehicles into orbit.
As a reminder, Starlink customers participating in the Better Than Nothing beta program purchase a kit that includes a phased array dish antenna and a Wi-Fi router for wireless satellite Internet connectivity. In the US, the starter kit costs $ 500 with a monthly subscription fee of $ 100. In October 2020, ARCEP granted SpaceX the right to build and operate Starlink Gateway ground stations in France. According to official ARCEP documents, SpaceX plans to operate three Starlink ground stations in France and the UK. In February, SpaceX received permission to provide internet access via Starlink in France.
