SpaceX plans to launch a space tug with another large batch of Starlink internet satellites at 11:09 p.m. EDT this Sunday (4), streaming live on SpaceX’s YouTube channel.
A Falcon 9 rocket is expected to lift off from Space Force Station at Cape Canaveral on the east coast of Florida, carrying 51 satellites into orbit.
Watch the launch:
The launch includes the shipment of Sherpa-LTC2, a space tug provided by Spaceflight. The tug will carry a payload for Boeing’s Varuna Technology Demonstration Mission (Varuna-TDM), which “aims to test V-band communications for a proposed constellation of 147 non-geostationary broadband satellites.”
The rocket’s first stage will be brought back to Earth for a soft landing on the Just Read the Instructions drone stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Landing – the seventh for this particular booster – is scheduled around 8.5 minutes following liftoff.
SpaceX has already sent more than 3,000 Starlink satellites into orbit in an effort to create a massive constellation of broadband services for remote areas.
This will be SpaceX’s 40th launch of the year and will further expand the Starlink megaconstellation. The company has permission to launch 12,000 satellites and has asked an international regulator to approve another 30,000.
In late August, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk announced plans to bring connectivity directly to smartphones using Starlink, in conjunction with T-Mobile. Another deal announced on Tuesday will see the transfer of Starlink service to Royal Caribbean cruise ships.
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