SpaceX launched 60 satellites for the global Internet (3 photos)

American private aerospace companyEarly this morning, SpaceX from the Cape Canaveral launch site launched the Falcon 9 launch vehicle with the first 60 communications satellites for the global Starlink Internet system, which aims to cover the entire globe with high-speed satellite Internet.

As part of this launch, it was possible to successfully withdrawall 60 satellites (each individually weighs 227 kg, the total cargo weight is 13.6 tons), all of them will work at an altitude of 550 km above the Earth. The spacecraft will reach their points of subsequent dislocation independently with the help of installed engines based on the Hall effect. To prevent collisions with space debris and debris satellites also received
Startracker navigation system, which automatically corrects the flight trajectory at the right time.

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Now there are 62 satellites in Earth’s orbit.for Starlink, but for the full operation of the system a multi-thousand swarm of similar communication devices is required. In total, within the framework of the project, for several years SpaceX needs to deliver about 12,000 vehicles to near-Earth space. 7,518 of them will be located at an altitude of 340 km above the planet, 1,584 will take up positions in orbits up to 550 km in height, and finally 2,841 satellites will be in position at 1,150 km

The first stage of the Faclon 9 rocket, before thattwice recovered after flying, successfully returned to Earth, sitting on a floating platform "Of Course I Still Love You" in the Atlantic Ocean. Both parts of the head fairing also successfully fell down, this will allow SpaceX to use them in subsequent flights, thereby saving on costs (the cost of the fairing is about 10% of the rocket and costs the company about $ 6 million).