Elon Musk's SpaceX launched 28 more satellites into low Earth orbit on Sunday, continuing to grow its space constellation.
The company said in a statement that the satellites were launched by a Falcon 9 rocket at 7:49 a.m. local time from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
After separation, the first rocket booster, number B1077, returned to Earth and landed on a barge named Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean.
The launch was the 23rd flight for the first stage booster, highlighting SpaceX's strategy to reduce costs by reusing hardware rather than discarding it after a single use.
Last week, SpaceX set a record by completing the 30th flight of Falcon 9's first stage, numbered B1067. Other high-performance boosters are on track to reach 20 years.
While SpaceX continues to demonstrate the reusability of its first-stage boosters, and payload fairings are often recovered and repaired, other parts of its rockets remain strictly disposable.
SpaceX once intended to recover and reuse the Falcon 9's second stage, but Musk tweeted in 2018 that the idea had been quietly abandoned by 2018, with the company instead focusing on accelerating its Starship program.
SpaceX's next-generation Starship system is being designed with full reusability in mind, with its super-heavy booster and Starship upper stage designed to be relaunched and flown, according to the company.
Last week marked SpaceX’s first significant achievement in reusing the Starship rocket’s Super Heavy booster and second stage. The Super Heavy booster splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Starship upper stage splashed down in the Indian Ocean. Neither vehicle was recovered for reuse.
Meanwhile, the Dragon capsule used to deliver cargo and crew to the International Space Station is reused, but only the main body is flown. The heat shield still needs to be replaced after each mission, and the main body is a consumable item.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given SpaceX permission to launch about 12,000 Starlink satellites. In December 2022, regulators approved 7,500 satellites for the second-generation constellation, and in 2024, they expanded the authorized frequencies for those satellites. Neither decision increased the overall satellite limit.
There are reportedly more than 8,000 Starlink satellites in orbit.
Sourse: www.upi.com
