[나우뉴스] Space X, Space Internet is arriving… Starlink’s 17th launch success (video)

▲ Space.com, a media specializing in aerospace, reported that SpaceX, an American private space company led by Tesla founder Elon Musk, launched an additional 60 satellites dedicated to the satellite internet’Starlink’ on the 4th (local time). / Photo = SpaceX

The prototype SN9 of the spacecraft’Starship’ going to Mars recently exploded in the process of landing, but SpaceX’s space internet concept is proceeding smoothly. Space.com, a media specializing in aerospace, reported that SpaceX, an American private space company led by Tesla founder Elon Musk, launched an additional 60 satellites dedicated to the satellite Internet’Starlink’ on the 4th (local time).

SpaceX successfully completed a mission named’Starlink 18′ at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida, USA. 60 Starlink satellites were loaded onto the Falcon 9 rocket and loaded into Earth’s orbit, and the first-stage rocket propellant B1060, which had returned to Earth in about 9 minutes, was also safely recovered. This is the first time that a first-stage propellant has completed a round trip flight so quickly. The reusable B1060 went back to space in January with Turkey’s new communications satellite Turksat 5A.

▲ Photo = AP Yonhap News

▲ Shooting = Trevor words only

A video shot by photographer Trevor Malman on Merit Island, 28.8 km north of the Kennedy Space Center, contains a Falcon 9 rocket heading into space, leaving the moon in the night sky behind. The rocket burst into the sky with huge sparks.

This mission was the 4th launch of SpaceX in 2021 and the 17th Starlink satellite launch. The’Star Link 17′ mission, which was scheduled to take effect on the 1st, was delayed due to bad weather and the need for additional inspection before flight. ‘Eastern Range’, which oversees the Cape Canaveral base and the Kennedy Space Center, approved the launch of the’Star Link 17′ within 5 hours of taking off the’Star Link 18′ on the 4th. If the launch was done at the same time as approval, Space.com said it would have been the first two orbital flights on the same day since 1966 on the Eastern Range. ‘Starlink 17’ mission is in progress with the goal of completing it on the 7th.

▲ Photo = Space X

▲ Photo = Space X

▲ SpaceX carried 60 Starlink satellites aboard the Falcon 9 rocket and carried into Earth’s orbit.

Elon Musk is building a’space internet network’ with the conviction to build a free internet network without blind spots around the world. Its core is the Starlink satellite. SpaceX completed 26 satellite deployment missions with 22 rockets last year, and this success has resulted in a total of 1095 satellites in orbit. The number of Starlink satellites floating overhead is expected to increase to 12,000 in the future.

However, as the number of small satellites in Earth’s orbit increases, the risk of inter-satellite collisions is also increasing. Head-on collisions between satellites are still rare, but some point out that without new measures to track satellite orbits and avoid collisions in advance, some high-altitude orbits may no longer be available due to the risk of collision.

▲ Starship prototype’SN9′, launched at the Boca Chica launch site in Texas, USA on the 2nd, succeeded in flying up to an altitude of about 10 km, but failed to land. / Photo = Reuters Yonhap News

Meanwhile, the prototype’Starship’ spacecraft, which SpaceX is developing with the goal of human migration to Mars, exploded again during landing. The Starship prototype’SN9′, launched at the Boca Chica launching base in Texas, USA on the 2nd, succeeded in flying up to an altitude of about 10 km, but failed to land. Starship prototype’SN8′ also succeeded in reaching the highest height by flying for 6 minutes and 42 seconds during the test launch on December 9 last year, but it exploded during landing.
　

Reporter Kwon Yoon-hee [email protected]