Propellant load test and preflight checkouts were completed on Nov. 17 ahead of Starship's sixth flight test planned for Nov. 19.
CAPE CANAVERAL—SpaceX knocked off a trio of Falcon 9 launches in less than 24 hr., ahead of a planned flight test of its Starship-Super Heavy vehicle Nov. 19.
The launch blitz kicked off at 5:28 p.m. EST Nov. 17 with liftoff of what is believed to be an Australian military communications satellite. The classified mission, known as Optus X, or TD7, was followed 7 hr. later with a second launch from Vandenberg SFB in California.
That Falcon carried 20 next-generation Starlink satellites into orbit to join SpaceX’s fast-growing broadband communications constellation. Since February 2018, SpaceX has launched 7,344 Starlink satellites into orbit, including two prototypes. Of those, 6,676 remain in orbit, according to Jonathan’s Space Report, a worldwide launch and satellite-tracking database.
The Starlink 9-11 mission, which lifted off at 12:53 a.m. EST Nov. 18, included 13 spacecraft for SpaceX’s new direct-to-cell network.
SpaceX returned to Florida to conduct its third launch in less than 20 hr. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral SFS at 1:31 p.m. EST with India’s GSAT-N2 broadband communications satellite. The spacecraft is owned by NewSpace India Ltd., a commercial arm of the government’s Indian Space Research Organization.
India typically flies on its own rockets, but the satellite’s size required a more powerful launcher. India flew the first in the series on an Arianespace Ariane 5.
With the trio of launches, Falcon 9’s flight log has reached 113 launches this year, and 398 since the rocket debuted in June 2010. Including 11 Falcon Heavy missions—two of which occurred this year—SpaceX has launched 409 orbital rockets to date, with two inflight failures.
SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell predicts the company’s new Starship-Super Heavy fully reusable launch system will match the Falcon’s flight record in the next four years.
“I would not be surprised if we fly 400 Starship launches in the next four years,” she said at a Nov. 15 webcast session at the 31st Annual Baron Investment Conference.
Toward that goal, SpaceX is preparing for its sixth flight test of a Super Heavy rocket and Starship upper stage. Launch of Starship Flight 6 is slated for 5-5:30 p.m. EST Nov. 19 from the company’s privately owned Starbase complex at Boca Chica Beach, Texas.
SpaceX is hoping to replicate the Oct. 13 catch of a returning Super Heavy booster by a pair of mechanical arms on its launch gantry, as well as expand the operational envelope of the Starship upper stage by relighting a Raptor engine in flight. Like Flight 5, Starship will not reach orbital velocity and will be slated to make a targeted splashdown in the Indian Ocean about 65 min. after liftoff.
The Raptor engine restart slated for Flight 6 is part of a series of practice runs ahead of returning a Starship from orbit.
Related Content
