San Francisco: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has successfully deployed a fresh batch of 60 Starlink satellites into orbit, taking the total number of satellites launched to over 400.
“Successful deployment of 60 Starlink satellites confirmed,” SpaceX said in a tweet Wednesday.
Successful deployment of 60 Starlink satellites confirmed pic.twitter.com/h3e6QmKRue
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 22, 2020
Called the ‘Starlink 6’ mission, this became the fifth Starlink mission this year and the company’s seventh batch of operational satellites since 2019.
Starlink is SpaceX’s ambitious project to launch and operate its own network of broadband satellites, which will provide low-cost Internet to remote locations on a global level.
“Starlink will deliver high speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable,” SpaceX said.
The launch of the ‘Starlink 6’ mission marked the 84th flight for Falcon 9, making it the most flown US rocket in use today, according to a report.
According to SpaceX Founder and CEO Elon Musk, at least 400 Starlink craft are needed before the company can begin to roll out minimal Internet coverage, and to provide moderate coverage, the company will require at least 800 satellites, said the report.
The first stage rocket booster supporting the ‘Starlink 6’ mission previously supported the first flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station in 2019, launch of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, and the fourth Starlink mission.