World

Musk’s SpaceX Sets Launch Record With Latest Starlink Liftoff

 

When a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Friday, Elon Musk’s SpaceX broke a calendar year launch record.

It was the 32nd launch of 2022. The intense activity is due to the company’s race to build a constellation of Starlink broadband satellites.

“Congrats to SpaceX team on record number of launches!” Musk, SpaceX’s chief executive, wrote on Twitter after the rocket deployed 46 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit. SpaceX so far has launched nearly 3,000 Starlink satellites.

Friday’s mission keeps SpaceX on pace to reach its goal of 52 orbital missions by year’s end, nearly doubling its annual launch total with the reusable Falcon 9 that SpaceX says can be reflown up to 15 times.

A majority of those missions have been in-house Starlink missions.

The company, founded by Musk in 2002, has in recent months shifted its focus from manufacturing Falcon 9 rockets to managing a fleet of those already built, investing heavily in infrastructure for refurbishing boosters under speedy timelines.

The company has applied the same strategy to its fleet of reusable Crew Dragons – gumdrop-shaped spacecraft that launch atop the Falcon 9 and ferry humans to orbit and the International Space Station.

SpaceX has launched Starlink satellites to space quicker than its rivals in the satellite internet race, such as satellite operator OneWeb, due in part to Falcon 9’s rapid reusability and the edge associated with using in-house rockets.

 

  • Reuters, with additional editing by George Russell

 

READ MORE:

Elon Musk’s Starlink to Connect With Planes, Trucks, Ships

Starlink to Shake Up Southeast Asian Satellite Market – Nikkei

China May ‘Need to Destroy’ Musk’s Starlink – SCMP

George Russell

George Russell is a freelance writer and editor based in Hong Kong who has lived in Asia since 1996. His work has been published in the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, New York Post, Variety, Forbes and the South China Morning Post.

Recent Posts

India’s Tata Steps Up EV Push With $1.6bn Battery Plant Deal

Tata Group unit Agratas Energy Storage Solutions said work on the northern Gujarat plant was…

14 hours ago

Biden Urged to Hit Back at China Over Micron Ban, Rally Allies

Washington lawmakers have said the US should work with South Korea and Japan and retaliate…

16 hours ago

Over 100 Chinese Cities Battling to Repay Their Debts: Rhodium

Study of municipal finances shows 102 cities made payments accounting for 10% or more of…

1 day ago

BRICS Looking to Counter Sanctions With Alternative Currencies

BRICS foreign ministers have asserted their bloc's ambition to rival Western powers and build up…

1 day ago

AI Boom Fuels Record Weekly Inflow For Tech Stocks: BofA

Technology firm equities recorded $8.5 billion of inflows in the week to Wednesday which also…

2 days ago

AI Chip Gold Rush Pumps Up SoftBank Shares Ahead of Arm IPO

The Japanese conglomerate, whose tech portfolio has slumped in value due to an array of…

2 days ago