spacex starlink

Image via Flickr/SpaceX

SpaceX Starlink mission scheduled for July after four delays

This mission will be SpaceX’s tenth Starlink launch. Here’s what you need to know.

spacex starlink

Image via Flickr/SpaceX

The launch, initially scheduled for 23 June, would have been SpaceX’s third Starlink launch in less than three weeks. However, the mission was subjected to no less than four delays in the course of one week.

South African-born SpaceX found Elon Musk wants to establish low-cost internet to remote locations across the world. Thanks to the satellites currently in orbit, Starlink should be able to provide broadband internet services to parts of the world later this year.

SpaceX’s Starlink launch mission delays

When is the next Starlink launch

The launch was moved from 23 June to 24 June, then 25 June and 30 June. A revised date for Starlink’s 10th despatch has now been set for 8 July 2020, if the weather plays along.

The launch will take place from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, with liftoff scheduled for 16:00 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or 18:00 South African Standard Time (SAST).

For this mission, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is expected to launch the tenth batch of approximately 60 satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network, a mission designated Starlink 9.

Starlink mission’s payload

As reported by SpaceFlightNow, two Earth observation microsatellites for BlackSky Global, a Seattle-based company, will launch as rideshare payloads on this mission.

Exciting times! There are currently 540 satellites in orbit around our planet and the next batch will add an additional 60 satellites to the total. We’ll share updates as and when it becomes available.

Starlink’s previous launch

The previous launch of 60 satellites took place on 13 June, just days after NASA and SpaceX’s historic Launch America mission. SpaceX didn’t conduct a static fire test before the launch, which saved time and money.

SpaceX used the Falcon 9’s first stage booster, the same rocket that previously flew two Cargo Dragon resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of NASA’s spaceflight program.

The booster took 58 Starlink satellites and three PlanetLab Skysats into orbit around our planet before returning and landing on the drone ship, Of Course I still Love You.

For the launch on 13 June, Falcon 9 flew 58 Starlink satellites and three PlanetLab Skysats into orbit before returning to Earth and landing on the Of Course I Still Love You drone ship off the coast.

Space junk

Responding to scientists concerns over the amount of “space junk” that will be left behind by the SpaceX missions, as well as the satellites obscuring the view of the night sky, found Elon Musk said there would be “zero impact”.

“I am confident that we will not cause any impact whatsoever in astronomical discoveries, zero. That’s my prediction; we will take corrective action if it’s above zero.”

South African residents were in the prime seats back in June to spot the satellite train as it passed by overhead. The satellites were only visible for 5 or 6 minutes at a time.