Elon Musk's company had lost more than three-quarters of the satellites from the previous launch due to a solar storm.
SpaceX returns to the fray: Elon Musk's company launched 46 more satellites on Monday, when at the beginning of the month it had lost more than three-quarters of another shipment due to a solar storm.
This week's launch was the 11th in the current stage for Falcon 9 , which landed safely after putting all 46 satellites into orbit.
“This was the 11th flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, Transporter-3 and now six Starlink missions. ”
The Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida served as the launch site. It also resulted in the 100th landing of Falcon 9 rockets for SpaceX, and the 107th for Musk's company, when Falcon Heavy boosters are included.
This year, SpaceX had already launched three large batches of Starlink into orbit, two in January and one on February 3. The two at the beginning of the year were successful, but the third suffered serious problems: 40 of the 49 spacecraft crashed on Earth, due to a solar storm.
In total, there are seven missions in the year, if other aerospace agencies are included.
Changes in the launch of SpaceX satellites, after the failure of February 3
To avoid the same problems, Musk's company aimed for a higher orbit, according to Spaceflight Now , which reduced the number of satellites sent from 49 to 46.
This payload will be deployed in a nearly circular target orbit, between 325 and 337 kilometers at its highest and lowest points.
The lowest altitude for satellites lost in the solar storm was 210 kilometers, as reported by SpaceX.
The Space portal explains that the company intentionally sends its large batches of Starlik into low orbits, so they can fall back to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere if they have a problem, in order to prevent them from becoming space debris.
How many satellites does Elon Musk's company have in orbit and what is its goal?
The goal of Elon Musk's company is to reach 12,000 Starlink satellites to provide Internet access in the most remote places on the planet. Currently they would have about 2,100 in orbit, with more than 200 fallen due to failures or dismantling.
The next launch would be planned for February 25, in a Falcon 9 from the Vandenberg Space Force Base, in California.
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