SpaceX launched a space tug, and a sizable number of its Starlink broadband satellites on Sunday, September 4.
51 Starlink internet satellites were launched into orbit on Sunday by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Along with Starlink Group 4-20, Sherpa-LTC2, a space tug sponsored by the Seattle-based company Spaceflight, was also on board. A payload that will test V-band communications for a hypothetical constellation of 147 non-geostationary broadband satellites is being transported by the tug as part of Boeing’s Varuna Technology Demonstration Mission (Varuna-TDM).
According to SpaceNews, a propellant leak forced SpaceX to postpone the first Sherpa-LTC orbital transfer vehicle’s scheduled flight in January 2022.
The first stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was supposed to softly land on the drone ship. Just Read the Instructions, which were located in the Atlantic Ocean, by the mission plan for Sunday. As anticipated, 8.5 minutes after launch, this launcher’s seventh landing took place.
Sherpa-LTC2 and the Starlinks started functioning from the Falcon 9’s upper stage about 49 minutes after liftoff, according to a tweet from SpaceX.
SpaceX has already put more than 3,000 Starlink satellites into orbit as part of its effort to create a vast constellation for broadband service targeted at remote locations. SpaceX has already launched more than 25 flights with a Starlink focus just in 2022.
On Sunday, SpaceX conducted its 40th launch of the year, expanding the Starlink mega constellation. 12,000 Starlink satellites will be launched by SpaceX with permission, and the company has asked a global authority for permission to launch a further 30,000 satellites.
Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, revealed plans to use Starlink in collaboration with T-Mobile to beam connectivity directly to mobile devices in late August. A different arrangement, announced on Tuesday, August 30, will beam Starlink service to Royal Caribbean cruise ships.
