SpaceX plans to launch 2 batches of Starlink satellites this week

CAP CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX plans to continue the weekly launches of 60 Starlink satellites at a time with at least two scheduled for next week.

The private space company, which is now a growing internet provider, has not revealed its upcoming launches of Falcon 9, but Federal Aviation Authority flight restrictions show several potential windows for two launches.

Pending approval of the 45th space wing, which oversees the eastern range, a SpaceX Falcon 9 will leave the base of the Cape Canaveral space force on Saturday night carrying more Starlink satellites into low orbit. Earth.

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In the range, another Falcon 9 could come out early Tuesday morning from the Kennedy Space Center Launchpad 39A, also with about 60 Starlink satellites.

The launch of KSC was delayed several times last week. The company said in a tweet that it needed “additional inspections before flying one of our fleet boosters.”

Combined, the launches will send the constellation Starlink over 1,000 orbiting the Earth. The constellation Starlink is part of CEO Elon Musk’s plan to create a space-based Internet using a network of eventually 42,000 satellites. In recent weeks, the company has expanded its beta testing of Internet service to include more than 10,000 customers.

Potential customers can visit Starlink.com and request a $ 499 Starlink kit with $ 99 a month service. The kit includes a router and a Wi-Fi dish. However, according to SpaceX, it depends on where the customer resides when they start their kit and service. For an address in Orlando, the estimate given is mid-2021.

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Laura Forczyk, owner of the space consulting firm Astralytical, said that in addition to registering more customers, the company must also demonstrate to the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the use of satellite broadband, that it can perform, providing the services that SpaceX says it will do with Starlink constellation.

“The FCC has granted SpaceX the ability to use the broadband it has provided them, if they are successful with Starlink with a certain number of customers and a certain number of satellites launched over a certain period of time,” he said. Forcyk in the news. 6.

SpaceX tries to succeed when other companies have failed. Musk said in a tweet this week that Starlink could be the first.

“SpaceX has to go through a deep abyss of negative cash flows over the next year or so to make Starlink financially viable,” the CEO tweeted. “All the new satellite constellations in history have failed. We hope to be the first not to do so. “

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