Monday, January 6, 2020

SpaceX Plans Third Starlink Satellite Launch Tonight

Hawthorne-based SpaceX is planning to try for its third launch of a set of Starlink satellites today, at 9:19 p.m. EST from its launchpad at Cape Canaveral. According to SpaceX, it plans to launch another batch of its high speed communications satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), with a backup launch opportunity tomorrow at 8:57 p.m. EST. SpaceX said it will use a Falcon 9 first stage which already had been used for three other missions--the Starlink mission in May 2019, the Iridium-8 mission in January 2019, and the Telstar 18 VANTAGE mission in September 2018. SpaceX is planning to put as many as 42,000 satellites into space, to provide broadband Internet across the globe. Those plans have drawn both praise and criticism, with supporters pointing to its opportunity to provide Internet to many unserved markets and after disasters; however, astronomers say that Starlink threatens to completely change astronomy and obscure our view of space.