On Wednesday, April 22 at 3:30 p.m. EDT, SpaceX launched its seventh launch of Starlink satellites. Falcon 9 lifted off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Below is a commentary about the launch from Osher Institute presenter Chuck Folkner:
“In case you’re bored, today (April 22) the topic of seeing satellites while looking at Venus came up. Those satellites are part of the SpaceX Starlink constellation. And as it happens, SpaceX launched another group of 60 satellites on the afternoon of April 22; they now have launched a total of 642 spacecraft and launching groups of 60 satellites about every 2 weeks. Though it is by no means clear if they will reach the limit, SpaceX has approval from the FCC to launch nearly 12,000 satellites total. Starlink is a space-based internet service product and will begin competing with the cable and phone companies to supply home internet service, probably beginning late this year in some limited areas. 5G cellular service will also be starting to compete in this marketplace at around the same time frame. These are indeed interesting times in the network business. Disruptive is an over-used word these days, but SpaceX has already disrupted the business of space launch with much lower costs than anyone else by reusing rockets. They may well disrupt the internet service market as well.
This link leads to a video of the April 22, 2020 launch: SpaceX – Launches
You can skip ahead to 15 minutes into the video watch the launch and landing of the booster, which takes about 10 minutes and it’s always fun to watch. Then skip ahead to 30 minutes into the video to see the 60 satellites begin to deploy.”