SpaceX targets another Starlink launch Thursday to continue record pace

• 

  Falcon 9 B1060 and 60 Starlink satellites standing on LC-39A in preparation for launch at 9:29am EDT on September 1, 2020. [credit: Trevor Mahlmann ]

SpaceX launched three missions in August-two carrying its own Starlink satellite payloads, and the SAOCOM 1B mission for Argentina. Now, beginning as early as Thursday morning, SpaceX may go for three more launches this month to continue building out its Starlink satellite-Internet constellation.

A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off at 8:46am EDT (12:46 UTC) Thursday from Kennedy Space Center while carrying a payload of 60 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit. This will be the 12th launch of a large batch of Starlink satellites, although the first 60 satellites launched in May 2019 were, to some extent, a test bed for future iterations. After this mission, the company will have placed more than 700 of its satellites into orbit to provide broadband service.

The need to build out a constellation of thousands of satellites, with the eventual goal of providing broadband Internet across the globe, has allowed SpaceX to fly its Falcon 9 rocket frequently this year. So far in 2020, the company has launched 15 missions, including the suborbital Crew Dragon in-flight abort test on January 19. Of those, nine have been Starlink missions.

Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments