SpaceX on Sunday stopped launching the Falcon 9 rocket, which was scheduled to launch 60 Starlink satellites into Earth’s orbit. The Falcon 9 rocket, which was ready to build from Launch Complex (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center, self-shortened at 24 seconds T-1. SpaceX has said it is now targeting March 1 for the launch of Starlink satellites. SpaceX did not mention the exact reason for the delay, but this is the latest hurdle that has been on the mission in the past few weeks.
Auto-abort at T-1:24 ahead of tonight’s Falcon 9 launch of Starlink; the next launch opportunity will be tomorrow, March 1 at 8:15 pm EST
– SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 1, 2021
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The Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to take off earlier in February, but the mission was delayed due to bad weather and hardware issues. The mission, called Starlink 17, will now fly on March 1st. If not successful Monday, the next window is directly on March 2 at 8:15 am EST to launch the satellites into space. The last SpaceX rocket carrying Starlink satellites went into space on February 16th. Monday’s launch is the sixth Starlink mission for the company this year and the 20th Starlink mission overall.
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Previously, the Elon Musk group had launched 60 Starlink satellites into space making it more than 1000 satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The new satellites are also said to be equipped with a new usable ‘solar visor system’ that will be created to block reflections of sunlight from their antenna surfaces. This is also why they are referred to as “astronomy-friendly satellites”.
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What do Starlink satellites do?
The 60 Starlink satellites come alongside the console in space that SpaceX launched in the last few years. SpaceX aims to deliver high-speed broadband internet, especially in areas where reliable or fully accessible access was not available. The satellites are also very low, meaning they are 60 times closer to Earth than traditional satellites, which allows data to be sent from one point to another in a very short time.
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