Elon Musk’s Space X launches 60 satellites for Starlink internet project
Elon Musks’s Space X, the private aerospace company, has launched 60 small satellites into orbit today, marking a major step for the billionaire entrepreneur’s space-based internet system Starlink.
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A Space X Falcon 9 rocket carrying the satellites, which each weigh about 230kg or 36 stone, took off from a Florida airbase at around 3.30am UK time.
Tesla founder Musk sees Starlink as a project that will earn money to help pay for his company’s bigger ambitions in space, namely colonising Mars.
He said at least 12 launches releasing similar numbers of satellites into low-Earth orbit would be required to provide most of the world with internet.
This morning’s launch came after two lift-offs to release the satellites were cancelled due to weather and then software maintenance.
Space X this morning tweeted details of the satellites: “Starlink's flat-panel design allows for a dense launch stack to take full advantage of Falcon 9’s launch capabilities.”
It said its “satellites are equipped with one solar array instead of two, minimizing potential points of failure”. A solar array is a group of solar panels used for power.
Musk’s company said: “Starlink will connect the globe with reliable and affordable high-speed broadband services.”
Space X is one of a group of firms competing for dominance in the space industry. Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and Space X are relative newcomers to the industry, which has established players such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s United Launch Alliance (ULA).
The launch comes a day after it was revealed that Musk’s Space X had accused the US Air Force of a breach of contracting rules when it passed on the company’s bid for money that was awarded to three rocket makers.
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Space X asked the US courts to reopen the $2.3bn (£2bn) tendering process, saying the contracts were awarded to “unbuilt, unflown” rocket systems that would not be ready in time to meet the government’s needs.