SpaceX suffered a simultaneous launch of 60 satellites

SpaceX Company intends to put into orbit of the Earth12,000 satellites for the creation of a worldwide Internet project Starlink. The first half of the vehicles will be launched in the next six years, and one of the first launches from Cape Canaveral in the United States was to be held this morning, May 16th. 60 satellites were loaded into the head fairing of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and were ready to fly, but the mission had to be canceled due to strong wind in the upper atmosphere.

This became known during the live broadcast.developments. Initially, the weather seemed perfect, and the company was confident of 80% launch. However, it later turned out that a strong wind in the upper atmosphere could interfere with the successful completion of the mission, and the launch was postponed for another day - a new launch window opens on Friday at 5:30 am Moscow time.

In the previously published images it was noticeable thatStarlink satellites are quite impressive in size. Now it is known that the mass of each of them is 227 kilograms, so that the total weight of the cargo put into Earth orbit is more than 18 tons. This is a record for the company SpaceX - such a heavy load its missiles have never launched.

It is noteworthy that the first Starlink satellites havelimited functionality. They are equipped with Hall engines and are able to move in orbit, as well as communicate with the Earth, but they are still unable to establish communication with each other. In 2019, the company will hold several more launches, during which more advanced versions of satellites will probably be launched.

Learn more about what featuresStarlink satellites, you can read in our material. For example, they are able to dodge space debris and change their location thanks to the Startracker navigation system.

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