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starlink

SpaceX nails landing; 100 Mb/s from Starlink

SpaceX launched a South Korean military satellite on July 20th, and just 8 minutes after launch brought down the Falcon 9’s first stage onto a textbook landing onto its floating barge (‘Just Read The Instructions’) positioned some 645 kms down range. This was the 12th launch this year for SpaceX. Not satisfied with recovering the […]

July 22, 2020By Chris Forrester

US Space Force happy with Musk’s rockets

SpaceX is due to carry out the launch of a military satellites for the US Space Force on June 30th. The launch is pretty routine for SpaceX and its Falcon 9 rocket, but despite having carried out 86 similar launches (and which included returning 47 to either solid ground or one of Elon Musk’s floating […]

June 30, 2020

Confusion over “nonsensical” UK OneWeb bid

The UK government is widely reported to have joined a consortium that is bidding for bankrupt OneWeb’s satellite system. The UK reportedly put £500 million (or possibly $500 million) into the consortium for a bid on June 26th. The UK’s interest in OneWeb is for a potential alternate space system to the EU’s Galileo GPS […]

June 29, 2020By Chris Forrester

Delays for SpaceX’s Starlink

First it was bad weather at the Cape which slipped the June 23rd launch to June 25th, then June 26th, but then the Falcon 9 rocket with a cargo of 57 Starlink satellites – plus a few guest craft – was postponed again just 2 hours before the planned launch – even though the weather […]

June 29, 2020By Chris Forrester

SpaceX launch rescheduled for June 25

SpaceX was due to launch another batch of Starlink satellites on June 23rd but bad weather at the Cape means that – weather again permitting – launch will now be on June 25th. This will be the 10th launch of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites and take the total in orbit to almost 600. Musk says […]

June 24, 2020By Chris Forrester

Starlink satellite service “this summer”

After a day’s delay, a SpaceX rocket placed the ninth batch of Starlink satellites into orbit at 5.21am, Florida time, on June 13th. The normal Starlink manifest is 60 satellites per launch, but on this flight there was also a cargo of three ‘piggyback’ satellites for San Francisco-based Planet Labs and its SkySat Earth observation […]

June 15, 2020By Chris Forrester

Study: Substantial potential for Starlink

Data shows that a high number of US broadband users would consider switching to Elon Musk’s Starlink service. An estimated 42 million Americans (16 million homes) do not have access to a broadband-level connection, double the FCC’s estimates, according to BroadbandNow – a data aggregation company helping consumers find their best broadband options. “In addition, […]

June 12, 2020

SpaceX plans Starlink launch on June 12

SpaceX is planning its third launch in just two weeks for June 12th, although as always, it is subject to the Florida weather. SpaceX intends to place another 60 of its Starlink satellites into orbit. Launch time is currently at 05.30-05.45 on Friday morning (Florida time). The launch will be the ninth mission for the […]

June 11, 2020By Chris Forrester

Musk targets 100 people per Starship

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is normally focused on launching satellites into orbit, plus a couple of astronauts now and again. But now he is targeting his all-new ‘Starship’ super-rocket, and flights carrying up to 100 people. Musk’s Starship is the vehicle which he wants to use to get missions to the Moon, and eventually Mars. He […]

June 10, 2020

SpaceX launching 60 Starlink satellites on June 3

Following on from last weekend’s success with its two human passengers aboard the Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station, SpaceX will launch 60 of its Starlink satellites on June 3rd. Currently, and weather permitting, the launch is planned for around 9.25pm Florida-time.  However, SpaceX has a 60-minute launch window which opens at 8.55pm […]

June 2, 2020By Chris Forrester