![]() The Starlink V2 Mini satellites that SpaceX started launching in February represent an intermediate step between the smaller Starlink V1.5 spacecraft and the even larger full-size Starlink V2s, which SpaceX plans to deploy in orbit using the company’s giant new Starship rocket. SpaceX started launching satellites into the Gen2 network in December, beginning the population of new orbital planes with older-design satellites until the larger Starlink spacecraft design is ready to take over entirely. The Starlink V1.5 satellites on Friday’s Starlink 5-12 mission were similar to the Starlink spacecraft SpaceX has launched over the last few years, but they headedinto an orbital plane that is, at least in regulatory terms, part of SpaceX’s second-generation, or Gen2, network. The Starlink 5-12 mission will haul 56 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit. They also have two solar arrays, compared to a single extendable solar panel on each Starlink V1.5 spacecraft. ![]() The new Starlink V2 Minis carry upgraded phase array antennas and a more efficient, higher-thrust argon-fueled electric propulsion system. SpaceX has two more launches of the older Starlink satellite design scheduled for early July before the company fully transitions to launching new-generation Starlink V2 Mini platforms, which are larger and offer four times the broadband capacity of the older-design satellites. The reusable booster, designated B1069 in SpaceX’s inventory, made its eighth trip to space.įriday’s mission continued deployment of SpaceX’s older-generation Starlink V1.5 satellites. On Friday’s launch, the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster re-entered the atmosphere for a propulsive landing on SpaceX’s drone ship “Just Read the Instructions” about 400 miles (640 kilometers) downrange approximately eight-and-a-half minutes after liftoff. The rest of the Starlink satellites were prototypes or failed platforms that have been retired from service and guided back into the atmosphere to burn up on re-entry. SpaceX currently has more than 4,200 functioning Starlink satellites in space, with nearly 3,700 operational spacecraft and more than 500 moving into their operational orbits, according to a tabulation by Jonathan McDowell, an expert tracker of spaceflight activity and an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. ![]() SpaceX says each Starlink launch adds more than a terabit per second of capacity to the constellation. The 56 satellites on Friday’s mission, named Starlink 5-12, brought the total number of Starlink spacecraft SpaceX has launched to 4,698. The Starlink network provides high-speed, low-latency connectivity to customers around the world. SpaceX launched a batch of 47 Starlink internet payloads early Thursday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket headed southeast from Florida’s Space Coast to haul the 56 Starlink satellites into orbit on SpaceX’s last launch of the first half of 2023. SpaceX pushed back the launch time from earlier Friday morning due to stormy weather. EDT (1535 UTC) Friday, the company’s second mission in two days. ![]() SpaceX’s 44th launch of the year took off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 11:35 a.m. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Friday with another batch of Starlink internet satellites, wrapping up SpaceX’s action-packed first half of the year with the company’s 44th mission of 2023.
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