Around 60 Starlink satellites will be crammed into the cargo section of SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, and if they get into orbit it will mean a total of nearly 600 Starlink satellites will be whizzing round the Earth. Each launch takes around 60 satellites at a time into space, as this is about the payload limit of the Falcon 9.
Thursday’s launch is due to take place at exactly 4:39pm EDT from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center.
Whether or not it actually happens, though, remains to be seen. According to Florida Today, the 45th Space Wing weather squadron is predicting conditions are just 40 percent optimal.
The main concerns are big cumulus clouds, as well as possible lightning strikes.
Reportedly, conditions are only slightly better on Friday.
This might be slightly concerning for BlackSky – a Seattle-based company that provides images and data from space.
This is because as well as carrying SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, Thursday’s launch will also be carrying up two micro-satellites from BlackSky.
SpaceX allows companies to apply 100 percent of the money they initially paid towards the cost of rebooking their payload on another mission in future, but this is subject to a 10 percent rebooking fee.
And since the lowest amount SpaceX charges to put a payload into space is $1 million, this is presumably an extra $100,000 BlackSky will be charged at the very least.
READ: Dramatic SpaceX video shows what happens when a Falcon 9 rocket’s nose detaches
You’ll need to have at least a cool $1 million lying around, but this is peanuts in spaceflight terms.
The Starlink launches are now very common. Only ten days ago SpaceX launched its ninth batch of Starlink units, and that itself was less than two weeks after its eighth load went up.
There was a bit of a gap between that and the seventh load, however, which went up on April 22. That particular launch raised the number of Starlink satellites in orbit to 420, Forbes reported.
As well as launching often, Starlink launches are quick. Typically the Falcon 9 rocket is in space within minutes, and the payload released just 15 minutes after launch.
And, as always, the booster stage of the rocket will guide itself vertically as it plummets back through the atmosphere before landing perfectly on a floating platform in the Atlantic ocean.
The aim of SpaceX’s Starlink programme is to offer high-speed internet across the globe via a huge constellation of tens of thousands of small satellites orbiting the Earth.
The company is aiming to start offering internet services in Northern US and Canada as soon as this year, but will quickly build this up to ‘near global coverage’ by 2021.