Watch a replay of our live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the Starlink 5-11 mission at 3:10 a.m. EDT (0710 UTC) on June 12 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Follow us on Twitter.
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SpaceX’s 40th launch of the year will send another batch of 53 Starlink internet satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral early Monday aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.
Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 3:10 a.m. EDT (0710 UTC) Monday, and forecasters predict good weather, with just a 10% chance weather conditions could violate any of the Falcon 9’s launch criteria.
The mission will follow a familiar track and timeline, with the Falcon 9 heading southeast from Florida’s Space Coast to place the 53 Starlink payloads into an orbit inclined 43 degrees to the equator. It will take about 65 minutes from liftoff through separation of the Starlink satellites, which will occur over the Western Pacific Ocean.
The launch is the first of two Falcon 9 rockets scheduled to take off Monday, with SpaceX teams at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California preparing a Falcon 9 for liftoff about 14 hours after the flight from Florida at 5:19 p.m. EDT (2:19 p.m. PDT; 2119 UTC). The launch from California will haul a group of 72 small spacecraft and payloads into polar orbit for a range of U.S. and international customers on SpaceX’s eighth small satellite rideshare mission.
The mission poised to launch from Cape Canaveral early Monday is numbered Starlink 5-11 in SpaceX’s launch sequence, which will bring the total number of Starlink satellites SpaceX has launched to 4,596. The Starlink network provides high-speed, low-latency connectivity to customers around the world. SpaceX says each Starlink launch adds more than a terabit per second of capacity to the constellation.
SpaceX currently has more than 4,200 functioning Starlink satellites in space, with more than 3,500 operational spacecraft and more than 500 moving into their operational orbits, according to a tabulation by Jonathan McDowell, an expert tracker of spaceflight activity and an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
The rest of the Starlink satellites were prototypes or failed platforms that have been retired from service and guided back into the atmosphere to burn up on re-entry.
Monday’s mission will continue deploying SpaceX’s older-generation Starlink V1.5 satellites, following launches earlier this year that started placing a new generation of Starlink satellites in orbit. The new satellites, known as the Starlink V2 Mini design, are larger and offer four times the broadband capacity of the older-design satellites.
The new Starlink V2 Minis carry upgraded phase array antennas and a more efficient, higher-thrust argon-fueled electric propulsion system. They also have two solar arrays, compared to a single extendable solar panel on each Starlink V1.5 spacecraft.
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station before a previous mission. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography
The Starlink V1.5 satellites on Monday’s Starlink 5-11 mission are similar to the Starlink spacecraft SpaceX has launched over the last few years, but they will head into an orbital plane that is, at least in regulatory terms, part of SpaceX’s second-generation, or Gen2, network.
SpaceX began launching satellites into the Gen2 network in December, beginning the population of new orbital planes with older-design satellites until the larger Starlink spacecraft design is ready to take over entirely.
The Starlink V2 Mini satellites that SpaceX started launching in February represent an intermediate step between the smaller Starlink V1.5 spacecraft and the even larger full-size Starlink V2s, which SpaceX plans to deploy in orbit using the company’s new Starship mega-rocket.
The Federal Communications granted SpaceX approval Dec. 1 to launch up to 7,500 of its planned 29,988-spacecraft Starlink Gen2 constellation, which will spread out into slightly different orbits than the original Starlink fleet. The regulatory agency deferred a decision on the remaining satellites SpaceX proposed for Gen2.
Specifically, the FCC granted SpaceX authority to launch the initial block of 7,500 Starlink Gen2 satellites into orbits at 525, 530, and 535 kilometers, with inclinations of 53, 43, and 33 degrees, respectively, using Ku-band and Ka-band frequencies. The Starlink 5-11 mission Sunday targets the 43-degree inclination orbit in the Starlink Gen2 constellation.
The first-generation Starlink network architecture includes satellites flying a few hundred miles up, orbiting at inclinations of 97.6 degrees, 70 degrees, 53.2 degrees, and 53.0 degrees to the equator. Last year, most of SpaceX’s Starlink launches have released satellites into Shell 4, at an inclination of 53.2 degrees, after the company largely completed launches into the first 53-degree inclination shell in 2021.
The FCC previously authorized SpaceX to launch and operate roughly 4,400 first-generation Ka-band and Ku-band Starlink spacecraft that SpaceX has been launching since 2019. SpaceX is in the final stages of populating the first-generation Starlink network.
The Gen2 satellites will improve Starlink coverage over lower latitude regions, and help alleviate pressure on the network from growing consumer uptake. SpaceX says the network has more than 1 million active subscribers, mostly households in areas where conventional fiber connectivity is unavailable, unreliable, or expensive. Users also include cruise ship companies, airlines, and military forces.
The Starlink 5-11 mission will deliver 53 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit. Credit: Spaceflight Now
During the final phase of the countdown Monday morning, SpaceX’s launch team will be stationed inside a launch control center just south of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to monitor key systems on the Falcon 9 rocket and at the launch pad. SpaceX will begin loading super-chilled, densified kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants into the Falcon 9 vehicle at T-minus 35 minutes.
Helium pressurant will also flow into the rocket in the last half-hour of the countdown. In the final seven minutes before liftoff, the Falcon 9’s Merlin main engines will be thermally conditioned for flight through a procedure known as “chilldown.” The Falcon 9’s guidance and range safety systems will also be configured for launch.
After liftoff, the Falcon 9 rocket will vector its 1.7 million pounds of thrust — produced by nine Merlin engines — to steer southeast over the Atlantic Ocean. The Falcon 9 rocket will exceed the speed of sound in about one minute, then shut down its nine main engines two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff. The booster stage will separate from the Falcon 9’s upper stage, then fire pulses from cold gas control thrusters and extend titanium grid fins to help steer the vehicle back into the atmosphere.
Two braking burns will slow the rocket for landing on the drone ship “Just Read the Instructions” around 400 miles (640 kilometers) downrange approximately eight-and-a-half minutes after liftoff. The reusable booster, designated B1073 in SpaceX’s inventory, will fly on its ninth trip to space Monday.
The Falcon 9’s reusable payload fairing will jettison during the second stage burn. A recovery ship is also on station in the Atlantic to retrieve the two halves of the nose cone after they splash down under parachutes.
Landing of the first stage will occur just as the Falcon 9’s second stage engine cuts off to deliver the Starlink satellites into a preliminary parking orbit. Another upper stage burn 54 minutes into the mission will reshape the orbit ahead of payload separation.
Separation of the 53 Starlink spacecraft, built by SpaceX in Redmond, Washington, from the Falcon 9 rocket is expected 65 minutes after liftoff.
The Falcon 9’s guidance computer aims to deploy the satellites into an orbit at an inclination of 43 degrees to the equator, with an altitude ranging between 185 miles and 210 miles (299-by-339 kilometers). After separating from the rocket, the 53 Starlink spacecraft will unfurl solar arrays and run through automated activation steps, then use their krypton-fueled ion engines to maneuver into their operational orbit 329 miles (530 kilometers) above Earth.
ROCKET: Falcon 9 (B1073.9)
PAYLOAD: 53 Starlink satellites (Starlink 5-11)
LAUNCH SITE: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
LAUNCH DATE: June 12, 2023
LAUNCH TIME: 3:10:50 a.m. EDT (0710:50 UTC)
WEATHER FORECAST: 90% chance of acceptable weather; Low risk of upper level winds; Low risk of unfavorable conditions for booster recovery
BOOSTER RECOVERY: “A Shortfall of Gravitas” drone ship northeast of the Bahamas
LAUNCH AZIMUTH: Southeast
TARGET ORBIT: 185 miles by 210 miles (299 kilometers by 339 kilometers), 43.0 degrees inclination
LAUNCH TIMELINE:
T+00:00: Liftoff T+01:12: Maximum aerodynamic pressure (Max-Q) T+02:25: First stage main engine cutoff (MECO) T+02:28: Stage separation T+02:35: Second stage engine ignition (SES 1) T+02:43: Fairing jettison T+06:14: First stage entry burn ignition (three engines) T+06:39: First stage entry burn cutoff T+08:02: First stage landing burn ignition (one engine) T+08:25: First stage landing T+08:35: Second stage engine cutoff (SECO 1) T+54:06: Second stage engine ignition (SES 2) T+54:08: Second stage engine cutoff (SECO 2) T+1:05:24: Starlink satellite separationMISSION STATS:
231st launch of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2010 242nd launch of Falcon rocket family since 2006 9th launch of Falcon 9 booster B1073 172nd flight of a reused Falcon booster 195th SpaceX launch from Florida’s Space Coast 128th Falcon 9 launch from pad 40 183rd launch overall from pad 40 88th Falcon 9 launch primarily dedicated to Starlink network 37th Falcon 9 launch of 2023 40th launch by SpaceX in 2023 29th orbital launch attempt based out of Cape Canaveral in 2023This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. the author.
Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.