After a four-day delay, SpaceX is now set to launch a pair of experimental mini-satellites as part of its planned 4,000-satellite strong Starlink constellation. You can watch the launch live right here starting at 9:14 a.m. EDT (6:14 a.m. PDT).
In addition to the two experimental satellites, dubbed Microsat 2a and 2b (1a and 1b never went up), SpaceX will be delivering a 3,000-pound radar observation satellite called Paz for the Spanish government. The cargo sits atop a Falcon 9 rocket, which is scheduled to launch from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 9:17 a.m. EDT (6:17 a.m. PDT). Should today’s launch get scrubbed, SpaceX will try again tomorrow at the same time.
Update: SpaceX has scrubbed today’s launch, they’ll try again tomorrow (Thursday February 22) at ~9:15 a.m. EDT (6:15 a.m. PDT).
Standing down today due to strong upper level winds. Now targeting launch of PAZ for February 22 at 6:17 a.m. PST from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 21, 2018
SpaceX scrubbed the launch this past Saturday to conduct further tests of the Falcon 9’s fairing—that all-important $5 million section at the tip that deploys the rocket’s payload. Parts of the rocket have been recycled from previous missions, including a first-stage booster used to launch Taiwan’s Formosat-5 satellite in August 2017, according to Space.com.
Falcon 9 and PAZ are vertical on Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Weather is 90% favorable for tomorrow's launch at 6:17 a.m. PST, 14:17 UTC. pic.twitter.com/bL1VjHmIhV
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 20, 2018
Announced three years ago, Starlink will be a massive, space-based telecommunications network involving thousands of interlinked mini-satellites. CEO Elon Musk says SpaceX is “going to try and do for satellites what we’ve done for rockets,” and the current plan is to have a low-cost global internet service in place by the mid-2020s. Revenue gleaned from the Starlink project could be used to fund eventual missions to Mars, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Today’s Falcon launch carries 2 SpaceX test satellites for global broadband. If successful, Starlink constellation will serve least served.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 21, 2018
Today’s launch will be the first for SpaceX since the inaugural launch of the Falcon Heavy on February 6. It’s a big day for SpaceX, as the rocket company officially enters the internet satellite business.
