SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket soared into the night sky from Cape Canaveral at 11:01 p.m. ET on Monday, December 18, carrying 23 Starlink V2 Mini satellites to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Last week’s initial launch attempt was thwarted by high winds, but favorable conditions on Monday allowed the liftoff to finally proceed. The Falcon 9 equipped with a three-times-flown booster completed its mission smoothly last night, marking SpaceX’s 92nd launch of 2023 out of 100 scheduled in this year’s launch manifest (including Falcon Heavy flights).
This Starlink deployment comes as the company prepares to perform the first tests of the satellite-to-cellular service. Last week, on December 14, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued SpaceX an experimental Special Temporary Authorization (STA) to conduct tests for its satellite-to-cellular Starlink system. The authorized trial spans over two dozen locations across the United States, involving beaming Starlink satellite connectivity to unmodified T-Mobile smartphones on the ground. According to the FCC approval document, SpaceX has been granted 180 days, until June 14, 2024, to complete the testing program.
It is likely that last night’s newest Starlink satellite deployment features satellite-to-cellular technologies because the FCC filing states SpaceX plans to utilize 840 upgraded Starlink satellites, each functioning as an orbiting cell tower, to transmit connectivity to 2,000 test devices (including smartphones) across the United States.
The Falcon 9 that launched this mission is identified as B1081-3, it previously undertook missions for NASA, propelling the Dragon Endurance spacecraft with astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) in August, and the CRS-29 Cargo Dragon resupply mission to ISS just 32 days ago, as discussed in the previous Cosmic Chronicles story.
Rapidly reusable rockets enable SpaceX to expand Starlink broadband coverage globally as quickly as possible. The Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage propelled the payload to orbit and successfully landed on the drone ship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ in the Atlantic Ocean, east of the Bahamas. It marked SpaceX’s 254th landing of an orbital-class rocket and the 226 time it reused a recovered booster.
The payload fairing halves descended on parachutes, landing near the droneship and were fished out of the water by the support ship named ‘Bob,’ in order to be reused. SpaceX saves approximately $6 million everytime it reuses the rocket’s payload fairing, as previously reported by Cosmic Chronicles. The deployment of the 23 Starlink V2 Mini satellites occurred around 65 minutes after liftoff.
The successful launch marks another milestone for SpaceX’s Starlink constellation. The company currently operates approximately 5,226 satellites in LEO, according to data maintained by Astronomer Jonathan McDowell.
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