After a series of weather delays, SpaceX successfully launched another 60 Starlink satellites this morning via Falcon 9. The launch took place at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station this morning at 9:06am EST. The Falcon 9 booster has been used in two previous SpaceX missions and the booster has been recovered again.
By mid-2020, SpaceX has a goal of having over 700 satellites in space. At that number, the company would be able to start bringing space-to-Earth internet transmissions to most of North America, according to a report from CBS News.
SpaceX will provide “high-bandwidth, low-latency connectivity, ideally throughout the world,” Elon Musk said at the time of the first launch last summer. “This would provide connectivity to people that don’t have any connectivity today or where it’s extremely expensive and unreliable.”
“Twelve launches gets us connectivity with no gaps down to a latitude of roughly 25 degrees (north and south latitude),” SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said last year. “And then 24 missions gets us global coverage with no data gaps. So what’s preventing us from providing service? Getting the right number of satellites up in orbit. We will start offering service (in mid-2020) because we have those 12 launches.”
While astronomers are questioning how these satellites will affect night sky observations, SpaceX has been working on a trial of a darkening treatment that will make the satellites less reflective to address those concerns. The coating is being used on one of the newly launched satellites.
You can follow the SpaceX missions and stay up to date on the progress on their Twitter page.
Watch live as Falcon 9 launches 60 Starlink satellites https://t.co/HYQPDIUp16
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 29, 2020
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