SpaceX launches another group of Starlink satellites but misses the landing of a rocket

The failed landing was the first time in about a year that SpaceX lost one of its Falcon 9 rocket amplifiers, which the company became accustomed to landing and reusing to save money.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the 19th group of about 60 Starlink satellites launched from Route 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Station in Cape Canaveral, FL, on 15 February 2021.  The satellites are part of a constellation designed to provide broadband internet services to the world.
It took SpaceX more than two years and about half a dozen boost boosters determined how to guide them safely to upright landings. His first successful booster landing in 2015 was a historic step – and one that many in the aviation industry previously doubted was possible or practical. SpaceX has since attracted 67 boosters from the 107 Falcon 9 launches, and 50 of the flights have used boosters previously flown. The Amplifier SpaceX powered four different Falcon 9 missions earlier on Monday, according to Space.com.

The rounded-up booster landing had no bearing on the overall success of the mission, which delivered 60 satellites in orbit for the upcoming Starlink Internet business. SpaceX’s primary mission to put its 60 Starlink satellites into orbit on Monday raised the Internet constellation to nearly 1,100 satellites. About 10,000 beta testers already use an early version of the service for $ 99 a month, and most of them have given excellent comments in online forums.

It is not clear why the booster did not reach its target. During webcasts of one of the launches, SpaceX usually shows that it sends boosters to a landing strip and shoots their engines to slow down their descent for an exact landing. But on Monday, SpaceX broadcast footage from an empty platform with some quirky birds hanging around and no rocket in sight. “It does look like we did not get a booster … It’s a shame,” said SpaceX engineer Jessica Anderson as she hosted Monday’s webcast.

The first phase booster is the largest and most expensive part of the rocket. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, said the booster in the first phase represents about 60% of the cost of building a new Falcon 9 rocket, which the company advertises as a $ 62 million launch vehicle . SpaceX’s efforts to reuse the amplifiers have distinguished the company from competitors around the world, most of whom are willing to have rocket amplifiers sink to a watery grave after their fuel has been used.

Although Musk said that recycling and reusing the SpaceX rockets provides a significant economic benefit, it is not clear whether the company is saving a significant amount of money.

SpaceX envisages Starlink will drastically change the way consumers, especially in rural areas, access the internet. But whether Starlink will become a sustainable business remains to be seen. Musk noted in a tweet last week that the company “must go through a deep gulf of negative cash flow over the next year or so to make Starlink financially viable.”

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