Starlink takes off

Source: Space.com

A view of SpaceX's first 60 Starlink satellites in orbit, still attached and awaiting deployment, after their launch on May 23, 2019.

SpaceX's Starlink satellite constellation is growing rapidly. 

Musk has said SpaceX will need at least 400 Starlink satellites in orbit for "minor" broadband coverage, and 800 satellites aloft for "moderate" coverage. The initial Starlink plan called for a megaconstellation of 12,000 satellites, and SpaceX recenty filed paperwork with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to launch another 30,000 satellites. The ITU is a United Nations agency that manages the global satellite radio-frequency spectrum, among other things.

(Space.com)

SpaceX launched 60 Starlink satellites earlier this year, and plans to launch another 60 on the 20th of this month.   That will take its complement of satellites to 240, and with roughly 2 launches a month, it should reach 400 by the mid-March.  Starlink will offer an order of magnitude increase in download speeds compared with existing broadband networks, and will also in time cover the whole globe, including the oceans and the deserts, though to start with it'll just offer service in North America.

SpaceX has pretty much solved the launch problems.  It has cut the cost of the satellites at least five-fold, and is launching them with previously used Falcon 9s, which have fully covered their costs.  But now it needs to show that the antennas each consumer will need to connect to the satellite constellation will in fact work.  This aspect has formidable problems, since the low altitude of the satellites means they'll cross the sky in 45 minutes, and (simplifying a lot) the receiving antenna needs to be pointed towards a satellite for it to work.  See this interesting piece from Teslarati for a good explanation of the problem.

The company is also building up to a launch later this year of a manned Crew Dragon, their capsule which will allow the USA to once again launch people to the ISS, after a nine year gap when the Space Shuttle was retired.

SpaceX plans to launch its next group of Starlink broadband satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket as soon as Monday, Jan. 20, from Cape Canaveral, two days after the company is scheduled to launch a modified Falcon 9 booster from a separate facility at the Florida spaceport to test the Crew Dragon spaceship’s emergency escape system.

SpaceX’s ability to achieve back-to-back launch schedule hinges on several factors, including an expected test-firing in the coming days of the Falcon 9 booster slated to fly on the next Starlink launch.

But assuming everything goes according to plan, SpaceX aims to perform launches from two pads on Florida’s Space Coast as soon as Saturday and Monday.

SpaceX has already test-fired the Falcon 9 booster assigned to the Crew Dragon capsule abort test at launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

Technicians inside a hangar near pad 39A are attaching the Crew Dragon spaceship to the Falcon 9 rocket this week, in advance of its return to the launch complex before a countdown rehearsal Friday, during which two NASA astronauts will practice launch day procedures before climbing aboard the next Crew Dragon spaceship for a flight to the International Space Station.

The Falcon 9 is scheduled to lift off from pad 39A — without astronauts on-board — during a four-hour window opening at 8 a.m. EST (1300 GMT) Saturday. About a minute-and-a-half after launch, the first stage’s nine Merlin 1D engines will be programmed to switch off, and SuperDraco thrusters on the Crew Dragon capsule mounted atop the rocket will ignite to propel the human-rated ship away from the Falcon 9.

The maneuver will demonstrate the Crew Dragon’s ability to carry astronauts away from a launch emergency, and builds on a pad abort test in 2015 to simulate the Crew Dragon’s abort system performance during an emergency before liftoff.

SpaceX will recover the Crew Dragon capsule from the Atlantic Ocean after it splashes down under parachutes around 20 miles (32 kilometers) offshore. The Falcon 9 rocket, flying with a previously-used first stage booster, is expected to be destroyed.

Meanwhile, teams at pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station — located a few miles to the south of pad 39A — are preparing a separate Falcon 9 rocket for liftoff as soon as Monday, Jan. 20, sources said.

The Jan. 20 launch will haul the next batch of approximately 60 Starlink satellites into orbit for SpaceX’s global broadband Internet network. Assuming the mission remains on schedule, liftoff time Jan. 20 is expected at 12:20 p.m. EST (1720 GMT).

The two upcoming launches from Florida’s Space Coast will mark the second and third missions of the year for SpaceX, which says it could perform 35 or more launches in 2020, including flights carrying new Starlink broadband satellite into orbit as often as every two weeks.

SpaceX conducted 21 launches in 2018, the most missions in a single year in the company’s history. The company launched 13 missions last year.

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