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SpaceX launches three Falcon 9 rockets in 12 days

Since January 6, the SpaceX space company has carried out three launches of Falcon 9 launch vehicles. During two launches, Internet satellites of the Starlink system were delivered to low Earth orbit, and more than 100 spacecraft for various purposes were launched as part of the third flight.

On January 6, Falcon 9 lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center pad with 49 Starlink mini-satellites on board. SpaceX will deploy a constellation of devices at an operating altitude of 540 km above the Earth's surface. The peculiarity of the launch was the use not of the northeastern launch corridor along the coast of the United States and Canada, but of the southeastern one, which goes around the coast of the Bahamas.

Because of this kink, the company changed the number of satellites aboard the launch vehicle from 53 to 49. Also, the number of devices is probably due to the fact that Starlink v1.5 satellites are 10% heavier than Starlink v1.0 devices. The first stage made a successful landing on the offshore platform. For the launch vehicle, this launch was the fourth.

On January 13, the Falcon 9 was launched from the Space Force Base at Cape Canaveral with 105 satellites as part of the Transporter 3 mission. The launch vehicle delivered vehicles of 30 telecommunications companies from 20 countries into orbit. The cost of launching each satellite, the mass of which did not exceed 200 kg, amounted to $ 1 million. After completing the tasks, the first stage of the Falcon 9 landed in the landing zone of the cosmodrome. It was used for the tenth time.

Falcon 9 delivered another constellation of 49 Starlink internet satellites into orbit today. The launch took place on January 18 from the Kennedy Space Center. The first stage landed on the offshore platform after completing its mission.

At the moment, SpaceX has launched more than 2,000 Starlink satellites, and more than 1,800 Internet devices are in orbit. The company has permission from the US Federal Communications Commission to deploy 12,000 mini Starlink satellites.

On January 5, during the next round of funding, SpaceX managed to attract $337.4 million in investments. The April round brought the company $1.16 billion.

On December 19, SpaceX set a record by launching two Falcon 9s on the same day, spaced 15 hours and 17 minutes apart. The previous record was also held by SpaceX - 44 hours between launches.

SpaceX launches three Falcon 9 rockets in 12 days