[2021-01-24 16:56:40 UTC: UPDATE 2]
SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket at 10:30 ET (1630 UTC). The booster -- its 5th flight -- successfully landed on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You. All 143 of the satellites on board were released at their scheduled times. Lastly, both fairing halves were successfully caught by the recovery ships Ms Tree and Ms Chief
[2021-01-23 14:37:05 UTC: UPDATE 1]
Although SpaceX pressed ahead with fueling of the Falcon 9 booster on Saturday morning, the company scrubbed the launch attempt of the Transporter-1 mission a few minutes before the window opened due to weather. Conditions at Cape Canaveral violated the electrical field rule for a safe launch. The company now plans to try to launch again on Sunday morning, with the launch window opening at 10am ET (15:00 UTC).
Original story appears below.
SpaceX to set record for most satellites launched on a single mission:
As early as Saturday morning, SpaceX will launch the first dedicated mission of a rideshare program it announced in late 2019. As part of this plan, the company sought to bundle dozens of small satellites together for regular launches on its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.
[...] SpaceX said it will launch 133 commercial and government spacecraft, as well as 10 of its own Starlink satellites. SpaceX had to obtain permission to deploy these Starlink satellites into a polar orbit.
With this launch of 143 total satellites, SpaceX will surpass the previous record holder for most satellites launched in a single mission, set by an Indian launch vehicle in 2017. In February of that year, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle successfully delivered 104 satellites into a handful of different Sun-synchronous orbits.
[...] "This is the result of SpaceX dramatically cutting the cost of access to launch," Mike Safyan, vice president of launch at Planet, said in June. "It's significant. They cut the price so much we could not believe what we were looking at."
[...] Weather is a moderate concern for Saturday's launch attempt, which is scheduled for 9:40am ET (14:40 UTC) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. According to forecasters, there is a 40 percent chance of weather violations due to thick clouds and cumulus clouds. Weather in the recovery area for the booster looks good.
The launch will be live-streamed on YouTube starting approximately 15 minutes before scheduled launch time.
Related Stories
SpaceX adds laser links to Starlink satellites to serve Earth's polar areas
SpaceX has begun launching Starlink satellites with laser links that will help provide broadband coverage in polar regions. As SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on Twitter on Sunday, these satellites "have laser links between the satellites, so no ground stations are needed over the poles."
The laser links are included in 10 Starlink satellites just launched into polar orbits. The launch came two weeks after SpaceX received Federal Communications Commission approval to launch the 10 satellites into polar orbits at an altitude of 560km.
"All sats launched next year will have laser links," Musk wrote in another tweet yesterday, indicating that the laser systems will become standard on Starlink satellites in 2022. For now, SpaceX is only including laser links on polar satellites. "Only our polar sats have lasers this year & are v0.9," Musk wrote.
Also at Wccftech.
Previously: SpaceX Successfully Launches Most Single-Mission Satellites Ever: 143 [Updates: 2]
(Score: -1, Troll) by fustakrakich on Saturday January 23 2021, @08:10AM (2 children)
All those billionaires look alike to me
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 24 2021, @09:56PM (1 child)
Oh dear! Didn't know wannabe billionaires are so easy to trigger!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 24 2021, @11:43PM
The trigger was another lazy fustabitch comment.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Saturday January 23 2021, @01:53PM (6 children)
If the company they're working with can apply the same business model to Starship, it will result in absolute dirt cheap access to orbit. Which probably means more space cremations.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday January 23 2021, @02:35PM
Scrubbed. No launch for you.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday January 24 2021, @02:00PM (4 children)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXcnyGHL8Vg [youtube.com]
Live in 10 minutes.
I prefer to use NASASpaceflight and others because SpaceX goes live at weird times.
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(Score: 2) by martyb on Sunday January 24 2021, @04:28PM (3 children)
I'd be happy to offer different links, but so far Ars Technica has been the only regular source of launches and live links I've found. (Load Ars, find link to SpaceX launch story, scroll down, live feed link near bottom.)
Got something better? Would really like an ATOM/RSS feed with date, time, and URL to live feed(s).
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday January 24 2021, @04:37PM (2 children)
https://www.youtube.com/c/NASASpaceflightVideos/videos [youtube.com]
I just go here, and switch from "Uploads" to "Upcoming live streams" or "Live Now" if necessary.
Other channels like Everyday Astronaut or SpaceXcentric also cover pretty much every launch live, but NASASpaceflight typically has its own people on the ground capturing video.
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(Score: 2) by martyb on Tuesday February 09 2021, @10:18AM (1 child)
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 09 2021, @11:43AM
SpaceX uses its own YouTube channel, but the streams go live too close to the launch for my taste. I think they even have premiere times matching the intended moment of liftoff, but start 15-20 minutes early. So I am avoiding it.
If you start watching these, they should start appearing in your recommended automatically if you aren't clearing history.
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(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 23 2021, @02:36PM
Scrubbed
Weather/Lightning issues.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 23 2021, @07:58PM (1 child)
i want my Skynet brand interwebs! fuck my local ISP in their goat ass!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday January 23 2021, @08:07PM
https://www.starlink.com/faq [starlink.com]
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(Score: 2) by pe1rxq on Sunday January 24 2021, @07:04PM (1 child)
Update 2 is wrong. No dragon was launched today.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday January 24 2021, @07:15PM
Fixed.
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(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Sunday January 24 2021, @11:44PM (1 child)
And even more space junk to interfere with amateur astrophotography? I have a bad feeling about this.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 25 2021, @10:46AM
It's only litter if it's not your sat.
One mans trash is another mans venture capitalist scam.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Monday January 25 2021, @06:00PM (1 child)
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1353566586985013254 and https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1353574169288396800 [twitter.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday January 26 2021, @09:34PM
I just subbed it.
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