SpaceX plans to ship a space tug aloft together with one other huge batch of Starlink web satellites on Sunday evening (Sept. 4).
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to raise off Sunday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the east coast of Florida, carrying 51 Starlink web satellites to orbit. Launch time is about for 10:09 p.m. EDT (0209 GMT on Sept. 5). Watch it right here within the window above, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly via the company (opens in new tab).
Also on board with Starlink Group 4-20 shall be Sherpa-LTC2, a space tug offered by Seattle-based firm 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,” according to SpaceNews (opens in new tab).
The first Sherpa-LTC orbital switch automobile was faraway from a January 2022 SpaceX launch alternative as a consequence of a propellant leak, SpaceInformation added.
Related: SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellation launches in photos
(opens in new tab)
Sunday’s flight plan requires SpaceX to carry the primary stage of its Falcon 9 rocket again to Earth for a mushy landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions, which shall be stationed within the Atlantic Ocean. The touchdown — the seventh for this specific booster — is scheduled for roughly 8.5 minutes after launch.
Sherpa-LTC2 is scheduled to deploy from the Falcon 9’s higher stage 49.5 minutes after liftoff, and the Starlinks will comply with swimsuit about 23 minutes after that, SpaceX wrote in a mission description (opens in new tab).
SpaceX has already despatched greater than 3,000 Starlink satellites into orbit, in an effort to create an enormous constellation for broadband service focused for distant areas. SpaceX has launched greater than 25 Starlink-centric missions in 2022 already.
This shall be SpaceX’s fortieth launch of the yr and can proceed including to the Starlink megaconstellation. SpaceX has approval to launch 12,000 Starlink satellites and has requested a global regulator to present the thumbs-up to an extra 30,000.
In late August, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk introduced plans to beam connectivity on to smartphones utilizing Starlink, in conjunction with T-Mobile. Another deal introduced Tuesday (Aug. 30) will see Starlink service beamed to Royal Caribbean cruise ships.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
