Billionaire tycoon Elon Musk-led SpaceX on Friday launched another batch of Starlink satellites into orbit. On his official Twitter account, Musk, the founder of American spacecraft maker and satellite communications corporation SpaceX, shared details about the new satellite launch.
according to SpaceX Report, falcon 9 46. launched starlink Satellite in low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.
Nine minutes after launch, the rocket first landed atop a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean and was lifted shortly after. The second phase was expected to deploy the satellites 63 minutes after the end of the livestream.
As SpaceNews reports, the new satellites are part of Group 3, which orbits in a shell hit by “Squall” debris from a Russian anti-satellite test last November.
COMSPOC, a space-tracking company, recently revealed a conjunction squall event, in which 841 Starlink satellites representing about 30 percent of the SpaceX constellation are affected by 6,000 close approaches.
A conjunction, by COMSPOC standards, is defined as two orbiting objects that are within 6 miles (10 kilometers) of each other. SpaceX has not commented on whether any Starlink was affected, but in previous discussions about space junk, the company has emphasized that its satellites are maneuvering to dodge nearby spacecraft or debris. can do.
COMSPOC said in a report that Starlink’s five-layer spacecraft is in a similar orbit to three other Sun-synchronous satellites that have previously come close to the Russian ASAT debris.
According to Teslarati, Group 3 is at an inclination of 97.6 degrees and at an altitude of 347 miles (560 kilometers).
SpaceX has already sent two other Group 3 collections into orbit from Vandenberg on July 10 and July 22.
SpaceX’s 36th launch of 2022 added to its growing record of launches in a year. The company also completed the 62nd consecutive landing of the first stage and the 34th reflight of the booster in 2022.
Friday’s flight was the 10th for the first stage of this particular Falcon 9, which, according to reports, was a SpaceX mission.