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

SpaceX aims to please astronomers with its latest Starlink satellite launch

Trevor Mogg
By

SpaceX achieved another successful Starlink launch early Friday morning when a Falcon 9 rocket roared skyward from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:12 a.m. ET.

The rocket’s payload included 57 Starlink satellites for its ambitious broadband-from-space project, and two Earth-observing  satellites for Seattle-based BlackSky, a geospace intelligence company.

Recommended Videos

Minutes after launch, the first-stage booster returned to Earth to make a perfect landing on a drone ship stationed off the coast of Florida.

And then came confirmation that the Starlink satellites had been successfully deployed.

Deployment of 57 Starlink satellites confirmed pic.twitter.com/myKxr3QSTu

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 7, 2020

This is the 10th launch for the Starlink project since the first one in May 2019, and brings the total number of its satellites in low-Earth orbit to 595 — with more on the way.

The astronomy community is particularly interested in the latest launch, as all of the Starlink satellites in this batch have been fitted with a new visor aimed at reducing the brightness of the sun’s reflection. Professional stargazers have been complaining that with more Starlink satellites heading skyward over the coming months and possibly years, the reflections will almost certainly disrupt their observations of the night sky, making it harder for them to do their work.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been listening, promising that his team was working to find a solution. In the coming days, we should learn whether the visors are effective enough to assuage astronomers’ concerns.

The $10 billion Starlink project is aimed at creating a system capable of beaming affordable broadband to locations globally where internet connectivity is currently unreliable, too pricey, or non-existent. Musk has said previously that customers will connect to the Starlink service using a device that looks like a “thin, flat, round UFO on a stick.” Trial services are expected to begin anytime now.

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)…
SpaceX launches a different kind of Starship
SpaceX's Starship Torch.

On the same day that SpaceX failed to launch the first orbital test flight of its Starship vehicle, the company has managed to launch something similar but altogether smaller: the Starship Torch.

That’s right, folks, for a mere $175, you can be the proud owner of a torch that resembles a very small version of SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft that’s currently sitting atop the Super Heavy rocket on a launchpad at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.

Read more
SpaceX scrubs launch of world’s most powerful rocket due to valve issue
SpaceX's Starship rocket on the pad in Boca Chica, Texas.

The planned first test flight of the SpaceX Starship and Super Heavy rocket has been scrubbed. The launch of the world's most powerful rocket had been scheduled for today, Monday April 17, but was called off due to a frozen valve.

The decision was made to halt the countdown around 10 minutes before liftoff, turning the event today into a wet dress rehearsal instead of a test flight. That means the rocket was fueled and ready to launch, but did not actually leave the ground, and the countdown was halted around 40 seconds before liftoff. "A pressurant valve appears to be frozen, so unless it starts operating soon, no launch today," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter.

Read more
SpaceX aims to launch world’s most powerful rocket on Monday
SpaceX's Super Heavy and Starship.

SpaceX is targeting Monday, April 17, for the maiden launch of the most powerful rocket ever built after receiving clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

“After a comprehensive license evaluation process, the FAA determined SpaceX met all safety, environmental, policy, payload, airspace integration, and financial responsibility requirements,” the agency said in a statement on Friday.

Read more