On March 14th, the US space exploration technology company SpaceX is preparing to launch the 22nd batch of Starlink satellites on Sunday, US Eastern Time (March 15, Beijing time). This will be the first time it has launched two batches of Starlink satellites within a week, as well as its ninth record launch attempt on the Falcon 9 rocket booster.

The forecaster of the 45th Squadron of the U.S. Air Force reported that there is a high probability of launch early on Sunday morning, with a 90% probability of favorable weather. This is also good news for SpaceX's unmanned recovery vessel, as it is preparing to recover the booster and fairing.

This mission will mark SpaceX's eighth launch this year, maintaining the company's rapid launch tempo last year. SpaceX created a record of 26 launches last year. If the recovery is successful, it will mark SpaceX's 77th recovery since the first launch of the booster in 2015 and the ninth landing of this special booster.

The number of the booster performing this mission is B1051, and it is one of SpaceX's most reusable boosters. This booster flew for the first time in March 2019. As part of a demonstration mission, the unmanned manned dragon spacecraft was sent to the International Space Station (ISS).

After that successful debut, B1051 launched three Earth observation satellites for Canada at the SpaceX facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. In 2020, the booster flew a total of five times in Florida, and five batches of Starlink satellites occurred. Sunday's mission marked the B1051's second flight this year. Its last launch was on January 20, which indicated its turnaround time was only 53 days.

The launch mission is called Starlink 21, which is the 22nd batch of Starlink Internet launch satellites launched by SpaceX into space. SpaceX originally planned to launch 1,440 satellites. Although the company is successfully achieving this milestone, its expansion plan to launch up to 30,000 satellites has been approved. If the latest 60 satellites are successfully launched, SpaceX’s total number of satellites into orbit will exceed 1,300, and it plans to launch a comprehensive commercial promotion later this year.

SpaceX's rocket payload fairing recovery vessel is still on standby in port. In the last mission, these recovery vessels were sent to the recovery area. After salvaging the two fairings from the ocean, the recovery vessel transported them to Morehead, North Carolina, where they were transferred back to Port Canaveral for renovation. (Little)

Source: NetEase Technology Report, translated by Google Translate