Why is Elon Musk launching SpaceX’s Falcon 9 with 52 Starlink satellites?

After encountering weather-related delays, Elon Musk’s SpaceX carried out another significant launch of a number of Starlink internet satellites to orbit and successfully touched down a rocket on a ship at sea on Tuesday at 7:44 am IST on Wednesday (August 10).

52 Starlink satellites, which were launched from Florida’s NASA Kennedy Space Center, were transported by a Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX claims that SES-22 and one Starlink mission have already been launched using the project’s first stage launcher.

The Falcon 9’s first stage made its way down to Earth for a vertical landing on the SpaceX droneship in Florida just under nine minutes after the launch. SpaceX tweeted that roughly 15 minutes after lift-off, the Falcon 9 upper stage finished accelerating toward lower Earth orbit and successfully deployed the Starlink satellites as intended, Space.com reported.

what is Falcon 9?

The Falcon 9 from SpaceX is a reusable, two-stage rocket that is capable of reliably and safely launching payloads and passengers into Earth orbit and beyond. Falcon 9 is the name of the first orbital-class, reusable rocket.

Because it views rocket reuse as a technological advancement that would enable Mars colonisation, SpaceX sets a high value on it.

The internet mega constellation Starlink, on the other hand, is a SpaceX creation that provides broadband connectivity to tens of thousands of consumers worldwide. Nearly 3,000 Starlink satellites have already been launched by Elon Musk as of this writing, and many more to follow. Currently, the space agency has permission to launch 12,000 satellites but has further requested authorisation to exceed that figure by 30,000.

This agency’s launch, which broke its previous records, was its 21st Starlink mission of 2022 and its 35th orbital flight of the entire year.

As part of its ‘Starlink’ effort, Elon Musk’s SpaceX aerospace company has been launching hundreds of satellites into orbit with the goal of bringing high-speed internet connectivity to particularly remote areas. Starlink’s satellites were positioned in low-earth orbits to hasten the communication between them.