Starlink Launch Puts SpaceX on Track to Shatter Rocket Record

Tuesday, July 19, 2022 | Chimniii Desk

What's going on

With its upcoming Falcon 9 flight, SpaceX will surpass its own record for the number of launches in a single year.

Why it's important

In the new era of commercial spaceflight, Elon Musk's company has set the bar extremely high for launch cadence and rocket recycling.

In nine of the last ten years, Elon Musk's rocket company has launched a growing number of its dependable Falcon 9 rockets. However, SpaceX plans to smash the record it achieved with its 31 launches last year in 2022.

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The business now expects to reach that amount as early as Thursday morning.

The 31st successful mission of this calendar year, a routine launch of 53 Starlink broadband satellites on Sunday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, means SpaceX has been accomplishing more than a launch per week on average and is on track for more than 50 launches by the end of the year.

China, which planned to launch 60 rockets in 2020 but has only done so 24 times so far, has launched more boosters into space this year than SpaceX alone.

A Falcon 9 rocket should be able to finish a mission and be ready for its next launch in a matter of days or even hours, according to Musk. SpaceX has nonetheless succeeded in setting the benchmark for rocket recycling and launch cadence in a new era of commercial spaceflight, even if individual boosters are typically dismantled and refurbished over a period of several weeks or months prior to their next mission.

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Even though Falcon 9 launches are happening more frequently than before, Musk is currently working to make his prodigious fliers obsolete. The billionaire has been mostly focused on launching his new Starship into orbit. In addition to carrying larger batches of Starlink satellites into orbit as Musk rushes to complete his massive global broadband array of thousands of satellites, the enormous rocket is built to transport NASA humans to the moon and potentially, in the future, Mars.

A significant regulatory barrier has recently been removed by SpaceX, paving the way for the Starship's first orbital test flight, which may take place in the coming months.

Many more Falcon 9 launches, including Thursday's Starlink mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base north of Los Angeles and another on Sunday from Florida, are planned for the second half of 2022. The Falcon 9 boosters are also scheduled to launch a number of other commercial and government satellites, a moon lander, NASA astronauts to the International Space Station, and a group of civilians to orbit on billionaire Jared Isaacman's second trip into space, in addition to the regular Starlink launches.

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The Falcon Heavy formation, which entails three of the boosters lashed together for very big payloads, may also be used to launch even more Falcon 9 boosters. The SpaceX launch schedule for the upcoming months also includes three challenging military missions for the US Space Force.

When a new set of Starlinks launch on Thursday at 10:13 a.m. PDT, there will be another opportunity to witness Falcon 9 smash its own record. Starting around 10 minutes before launch, the mission will be webcast live on YouTube.