Falcon is baaaaaaaack!
July 29, 2024
“Falcon is baaaaaaaack!!!!!!” was the post from SpaceX’s president and COO Gwynne Shotwell following the triple launch weekend of three Falcon 9 rockets, and achieved just two weeks after a partial failure of a Falcon’s upper stage on July 11th.
The weekend (July 27th/28th) certainly saw SpaceX regain its stride, and started to make up for lost time since the July 11th problem.
The three flights, two from Cape Canaveral and one from Vandenburg in California, were textbook and completely successful. The weekend saw the 300th reuse of a Falcon’s booster achieved and the three weekend launches were all handled within 30 hours. The total activity for SpaceX reached 301 re-use flights and 332 landings of the first stage booster.
In total, 65 Starlink satellites were all delivered into their transfer orbits.
Elon Musk posted on X that SpaceX was “Rapidly reaching enough direct to cell satellites for continuous coverage at highly populated latitudes.”
The weekend’s activity saw 21 satellites launched which are capable of handling cellular calls. Observers expect SpaceX to start officially testing – and perhaps offering – a cellular service this autumn. There are now 116 Starlink cellular satellites in orbit.
Starlink also updated its availability map of the planet, and has said that the following countries will receive its broadband-by-satellite service this year:
· Gambia 2024 (updated)
· Guinea-Bissau 2024 (updated)
· Liberia 2024 (updated)
· Ivory Coast 2024 (updated)
· Burkina-Faso 2024 (updated)
· Ghana 2024 (updated)
· Togo 2024 (updated)
· Chad 2024 (updated)
· Equatorial Guinea 2024 (updated)
· Gabon 2024 (updated)
Missing from the list is South Africa, and likely to a lucrative market for Starlink.
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