California: A Falcon 9 carrier rocket launched another 52 Starlink broadband satellites into orbit early on Wednesday, the SpaceX corporation said. The spacecraft lifted off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base on Wednesday at 0602 GMT and returned after successfully placing all satellites in to their designated orbits.
Falcon 9 launches 52 @Starlink satellites to orbit, completing this first stage booster’s 14th launch and landing,” SpaceX tweeted, adding that the deployment of satellites has been confirmed.
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The rocket lifted off at 11:02 p.m. PT (06:02 GMT on Wednesday) from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, marking the 14th launch and landing for this Falcon 9 first-stage booster.
The Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth as planned about 8 minutes and 45 seconds after launch on Wednesday. It made a vertical touchdown on the SpaceX droneship Of Course I Still Love You, which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
In a separate post, Starlink said all the satellites are equipped with optical space lasers to provide internet coverage globally and “serve customers in the most remote locations on Earth.”
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“The space laser mesh is what enabled Starlink coverage for critical infrastructure, schools, and communities across the 169 island nation of Tonga in the South Pacific Ocean after it was hit by a tsunami last year,” Starlink said in a tweet.
It was the 14th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Among its previous 13 flights were Crew-1 and Crew-2, astronaut missions that SpaceX flew to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA.
Starlink is a next-generation satellite network designed to provide broadband internet access across the world, launched by SpaceX in February 2018.
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SpaceX has now launched more than 4,500 Starlink satellites, more than 4,100 of which are currently active, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell. But many more will go up in the coming weeks and months. The company already has permission to send 12,000 Starlink satellites to orbit, and it has applied for approval to launch another 30,000 on top of that.
