This was the fourth launch in SpaceX’s Starlink programme, which is expected to have 1,440 satellites in service by the end of 2020.
“Starlink is designed to bring high-speed, low-latency internet to all areas of the globe,” Starlink satellite engineer Lauren Lyons said yesterday, moments before the launch.
Yesterday’s success (pictured) follows three previous launches, in May and November 2019 and on 6 January 2020.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted all 60 new Starlink satellites in one go, flatpacked together at the top of the 70m high reusable vehicle.
Once operational, the satellites will orbit between 328km and 580km above the Earth’s surface – making the round-trip ground-satellite-ground latency around 30ms.
Last October the US regulator, the Federal Commununications Commission (FCC), approached the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for approval for 30,000 new Starlink satellites in addition to the 12,000 already approved.
SpaceX is already the biggest commercial operator of telecoms satellites, a target achieved with the January launch. But it faces competition – though not in numbers – from companies such as Amazon, which in July 2019 asked the FCC for approval for 3,236 low-orbit satellites.
