Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

How to watch SpaceX’s first Starlink satellite rideshare mission

Trevor Mogg
By

SpaceX will send another batch of its Starlink internet satellites into orbit early Saturday morning, June 13. This mission, however, is different from previous ones as it marks the official launch of SpaceX’s Smallsat Rideshare Program. The program makes satellite deployment affordable for more companies as it allows them to share the use of a rocket.

The payload for the rideshare mission will include 58 of SpaceX’s own internet-providing Starlink satellites together with three Earth-imaging satellites for San Francisco-based Planet Labs. Saturday’s outing will bring the total number of space-based Starlink satellites to 538, with Planet Labs’ SkySat fleet expanding to 18.

Recommended Videos

SpaceX started taking rideshare applications in February 2020, with prices for small-satellite deployment starting at $1 million — a fraction of the tens of millions of dollars you might have to pay if you booked an entire launch. SpaceX’s webpage highlighting the service includes a price calculator where interested firms can input the desired orbit, launch date, and payload mass to find out precisely how much they’ll need to fork out to get their satellite, or satellites, into space.

Related

Rideshare missions are set to become big business, with SpaceX among a growing number of companies aiming to provide such a service. California-based Rocket Lab, for example, has already conducted several rideshare missions for a range of customers, with its next one planned for the coming days after the original launch date this week was delayed due to strong winds. Virgin Orbit is also developing its own system for rideshare launches, but is still trying to perfect its unique launch system that involves firing the rocket from a modified Boeing 747 jet.

Conditions permitting, SpaceX is aiming to launch its Falcon 9 rocket at 5:21 a.m. E.T. on Saturday, June 13. That’s admittedly pretty early for most folks (or late if you’re on the Pacific Coast), but for space fans in other parts of the world, the timing could be just right. You can watch a livestream of the event on SpaceX’s YouTube channel.

Besides the launch itself, look out for the first-stage booster landing upright upon its return, the payload deployment, and possibly the capture of the rocket fairing in giant nets.

Saturday’s mission comes two weeks after Elon Musk’s rocket company successfully sent two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station in the first crewed use of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. It will also be the second Starlink launch in nine days as SpaceX works to ramp up the frequency of launches using its reusable rocket system.

Be sure to check SpaceX’s Twitter feed for any adjustments to the launch schedule.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
How to watch the SpaceX resupply launch to the ISS this week
A bright white trail is in view after the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon capsule lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 14, 2022, on the company’s 25th Commercial Resupply Services mission for the agency to the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 8:44 p.m. EDT. Dragon will deliver more than 5,800 pounds of cargo, including a variety of NASA investigations, to the space station. The spacecraft is expected to spend about a month attached to the orbiting outpost before it returns to Earth with research and return cargo, splashing down off the coast of Florida.

An uncrewed SpaceX Cargo Dragon will blast off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week, carrying scientific equipment and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). This will be the 27th SpaceX mission to resupply the space station, and it will use a Falcon 9 rocket to be launched from Launch Complex 39A.

The launch will be livestreamed by NASA, so if you want to watch, we have the details you need below.
What to expect from the launch
A bright white trail is visible after the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon capsule lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 14, 2022. It was the company’s 25th Commercial Resupply Services mission for the agency to the International Space Station. SpaceX

Read more
Satellites like SpaceX’s Starlink are disrupting Hubble observations
The curving light streak created by an artificial satellite mars an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Astronomers are once again worried about the effect that satellites like those used by SpaceX for its Starlink service will have on scientific research. A recent study looked at the effect that such satellites were having on observations from the Hubble Space Telescope and found that observations were already being impacted by the number of satellites nearby.

Telescopes like Hubble are particularly vulnerable to interference from satellites because of their location, in an area called low-Earth orbit (LEO). At less than 1,200 miles above the Earth's surface, this region is prime real estate for both scientific projects like Hubble and the International Space Station and for commercial projects like satellite megaconstellations.  While there have been satellites in this region for many years, recently the number of satellites has been rising dramatically, especially due to projects like Starlink which rely on having thousands of satellites in orbit.

Read more
SpaceX deploys first batch of more powerful Starlink satellites
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches in February 2023.

After scrubbing Monday’s Crew-6 launch due to a last-minute technical glitch with the ground systems at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, SpaceX moved ahead with the launch of another Falcon 9 rocket from the same launch facility, carrying into orbit another batch of satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband service.

However, these ones are different to the several thousand Starlink satellites that are already circling Earth.

Read more