International. – Elon Musk’s aerospace company, SpaceX, successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket this morning deploying 60 other Starlink satellites, which aim to bring every single corner of the Earth on the internet. The rocket also made another unmanned landing in the Atlantic after launch, a week after making a crucial test flight for NASA
Watch live as Falcon 9 launches 60 Starlink satellites https://t.co/HYQPDIUp16
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 29, 2020
This flight is the fourth launch of SpaceX’s Starlink project, which consists of a massive constellation of satellites that aims to provide Internet coverage to all parts of the world. The company has permission to launch nearly 12,000 satellites and has expressed interest in launching 30,000 more. To meet its goal, the company plans to launch up to 24 Starlink missions this 2020.
After SpaceX launched the first litter of Starlink satellites, the American Astronomical Society warned that these devices could ruin the sky, as it would be affecting astronomical observations as they were so many brilliant artificial satellites.
Jeffrey Hall, Chairman of the SAE Committee on Luminous Pollution, Radio Interference and Space Debris:
“The natural night sky is a resource not only for astronomers, but for all who look up to understand and enjoy the splendor of the universe, and its degradation has many negative effects beyond astronomical ones.”
SpaceX had tried to launch this flight over the past week, but bad weather has caused several delays.
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