Moscow. 12-th of September. INTERFAX.RU – Heavy rocket Falcon 9 with the next batch of satellites on Tuesday Moscow time starts into orbit to replenish the orbital constellation of the global Internet coverage of the Starlink system, said the developer SpaceX.
“SpaceX plans to launch Falcon 9 with the 51st Starlink satellite from the 4E complex from the Space Force base in Vandenberg, California,” it said.
The launch is expected to take place at 20:55 on Monday US West Coast time ( Tuesday at 06:55 Moscow time ).
This will be the 31st launch of a group of Internet satellites into orbit since May 2019 as part of the Starlink project. The SpaceX orbital group already consists of 1,738 spacecraft.
The company is currently the largest satellite operator in the world.
The reusable first stage of the American Falcon 9 launch vehicle, which will be used for the eighth time, will have to make a guided landing on the floating platform Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean.
In the future, SpaceX plans to deploy an orbital constellation of 12,000 spacecraft of this type ( and subsequently 30,000 ) to create a full-scale network that will provide the inhabitants of the Earth with broadband Internet access anywhere in the world. The total investment in the project is estimated at $ 10 billion.
