SpaceX Launches Fifth Starlink Mission
CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. (SpaceX PR) — On Monday, February 17 at 10:05 a.m. EST, or 15:05 UTC, SpaceX launched its fifth Starlink mission from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
Falcon 9’s first stage previously launched the CRS-17 mission in May 2019, the CRS-18 mission in July 2019, and the JCSAT-18/Kacific1 mission in December 2019.
The Starlink satellites were deploy in an elliptical orbit approximately 15 minutes after liftoff. Prior to orbit raise, SpaceX engineers will conduct data reviews to ensure all Starlink satellites are operating as intended. Once the checkouts are complete, the satellites will then use their onboard ion thrusters to move into their intended orbits and operational altitude of 550 km.
SpaceX is leveraging its experience in building rockets and spacecraft to deploy the world’s most advanced broadband internet system. With performance that far surpasses that of traditional satellite internet and a global network unbounded by ground infrastructure limitations, Starlink will deliver high speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable.
Each Starlink satellite weights approximately 260 kg and features a compact, flat-panel design that minimizes volume, allowing for a dense launch stack to take full advantage of Falcon 9’s launch capabilities. With four powerful phased array and two parabolic antennas on each satellite, an enormous amount of throughput can be placed and redirected in a short time, for an order of magnitude lower cost than traditional satellite-based internet.
Starlink satellites are on the leading edge of on-orbit debris mitigation, meeting or exceeding all regulatory and industry standards. At end of their life cycle, the satellites will utilize their on-board propulsion system to deorbit over the course of a few months. In the unlikely event their propulsion system becomes inoperable, the satellites will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere within 1-5 years, significantly less than the hundreds or thousands of years required at higher altitudes. Further, Starlink components are designed for full demisability. \
Starlink is targeting service in the Northern U.S. and Canada in 2020, rapidly expanding to near global coverage of the populated world by 2021. Additional information on the system can be found at starlink.com.
Falcon 9 launched this Starlink mission from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Learn more about SpaceX’s launch facilities at spacex.com/about.
43 responses to “SpaceX Launches Fifth Starlink Mission”
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Congratulations to SpaceX! Another successful flight for the Falcon 9.
I wonder how long it will be before there is another round of whining by astronomers…
Wait for it…
odd the first stage failed to recover
First time in 4 years on a Falcon 9 flight to the barge. It will be interesting to see what happened.
https://www.theverge.com/20…
was 18 4 years ago?
But 2018 was a return to the launch site, not a barge, and they salvaged it. Indeed as the article notes it was the first ground landing that they missed with a Falcon 9. The other barge misses in recent years were by the center core of the Falcon Heavy.
they will salvage this one as well, as if you salvage anything in salt water
if you look carefully you can see on the right side of the picture the exhaust of the rocket intermixing with sea water, then the water spray comes up as the vehicle tips over
Grid fins for sure!!!!
A bad day for SpaceX lately is occasionally losing a booster they expected to land while getting it back intact to scavenge grid fins, COPVs and review h/w for RCA.
But I count on those landings to make me smile. Just watching a rocket successfully deliver a payload to Space doesn’t do for me any more. The addiction as progressed!!!
🙂
Look at my avatar picture after all.
Missed it by that much!
It will, indeed, be interesting to see what the story is on this near-miss.
shouldn’t be fluids ran out.
I wonder, Bob, if that whatever had caused the telemetry to “drop out” very early upon the first stage’s return may have also, in some way, had a bearing upon it’s positional accuracy. Regards, Paul.
I am not the word on SpaceX recovery…but from what I have been told the rocket “aims” for a spot off the barge until its terminal firing then it walks its way (I think down wind) to the barge as it is finishing its burn and then lands…I am told but do now know that if there is some issue with the vehicle it is suppose to not make that terminal move…you can see off to the right side the engine and sea water spray, then the water droplets on the glass are the rocket falling over.
it probably “soft landed” in the water…so maybe you are correct something that knocked out the telemtry also affected GPS…right now that is as good a thought as any
Or the ASDS wasn’t where it was expected to be?
I heard rumors that something was seen flying off about 5 plus minutes in. A wire? ice?
Hope we learn reason for failure.
its on the videos…
Looks a lot like a wiring harness
maybe Scott M the video guy says in his commentary that these have been seen before…I take his word on that
Agreed, between camera angle and the nature of the environment hard to tell.
Odd, but no doubt SpaceX will learn something new from this failure. They’ve successfully recovered 49 orbital class first stages/boosters. They’re way ahead of the competition in this regard, so an occasional failure is not a big deal.
Three SpaceX bummers today.
1) Booster takes a dive.
2) Both fairings miss the net. Hopefully still reusable after swim.
3 At Boca chica, while iron workers were stacking a 5 ring stack on to a 4 ring Starship stack in windy weather. Before they had it completely welded off the crane holding the upper stack may have let a little to much weigh rest on the joint causing the lower stack to dent. Hopefully fixable without to much delay. Obviously on the critical path. 🙁
they need a construction tower around it, which is tented, and then one side simply opens up.
Heck, the tent can come down once the rocket is ready to move.
Three SpaceX bummers today.
1) Booster takes a dive.
2) Both fairings miss the net. Hopefully still reusable after swim.
3) At Boca chica, while iron workers were stacking a 5 ring stack on to a 4 ring Starship stack in windy weather. Before they had it completely welded off the crane holding the upper stack may have let a little to much weigh rest on the joint causing the lower stack to dent. Hopefully fixable without to much delay. Obviously on the critical path. 🙁
hardly wait to give this a try under flight loads
This is a dumb response. Flight loads are from expected direction and when the tank is pressurized. Any orbit class rocket stage is easy to ding given the rocket equation and dry mass fraction requirements. Don’t be dopey.
Pressure will help. Stronger than old time Atlas
That’s what rocket science is all about they say. Testing a crazy idea till you make it work. Just like Robert G. and me use to do back in the day.
For the nth time, when the propellant tanks are filled, they’re also pressurized. During flight, they’ll remain pressurized (barring a failure of the pressurization system). All liquid fueled launch vehicles need to pressurize the tanks in order to handle flight loads. Stop denying this fact to push your hate of SpaceX.
there is no hate here…its a classic spaceX engineeering goof…
It’s a non-issue as they pushed it back to normal before the seam weld started. Total nothing burger.
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
that will buff right out…just sitting there and it buckled…who wants to try flight loads
Easy to buckle all stage tank walls when the loads aren’t in the direction expected and the tank isn’t pressurized.
sure perfectly normal no worries sigh
The point is it has nothing to do with flight loads, which you know, so stop pretending it does.
you dont know that. they had oil canning problems with Falcon tanks and someone forgot that…if that is the reason…another reason is weld failure
They hadn’t even welded the sections together at that point, this was simply at the point of stacking. Stop it, you are embarrassing yourself.
so they are going to weld vertically with no jigs? good plan
Narrator: Changing the subject when you get called out for [email protected]$$ comment, nice move.
Yes, we do know that. Again, look at the original Atlas.
the just forgot about oil canning
Yes. At least SpaceX is learning it while they are early in the build with only a few rings damaged. The U.S.A.F. learned it the hard way when they had an Agena on an Atlas. Now there is one for the blooper reel.
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
This is unpressurized. Try standing on an empty aluminum pop/soda can. Note how easy it is to accidentally crush the can by shifting your weight just a bit. Now try standing on a full, pressurized, aluminum pop/soda can.
Guess which one of these is analogous to the propellant tanks of a launch vehicle.
Also, the original Atlas missiles/launch vehicles were made of such thin stainless steel that they had to be pressurized at all times or they would collapse. That’s why every (classic) Atlas that is on display is literally connected to an air compressor.