SpaceX plans to send a space tug aloft along with another large batch of Starlink Internet satellites on Sunday night (Sept. 4).
A SpaceX The Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Florida’s east coast on Sunday with 51 Starlink internet satellites to orbit. The start time is set for 22:09 EDT (5 September 02:09 GMT). Watch it here in the window above, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly through the company (opens in a new tab).
Also aboard Starlink Group 4-20 will be Sherpa-LTC2, a space tug provided by Seattle-based company Spaceflight. The tug will carry a payload for Boeing’s Varuna Technology Demonstration Mission (Varuna-TDM), which “aims to test V-band communications for a proposed constellation of 147 broadband non-geostationary satellites,” according to SpaceNews (opens in a new tab).
The first Sherpa-LTC orbital transfer vehicle was withdrawn from a SpaceX launch opportunity in January 2022 due to a propellant leak, SpaceNews added.
Related: SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellation launches in photos
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 53 Starlink satellites into orbit from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on May 14, 2022. (Image credit: SpaceX) (opens in new tab )
Sunday’s flight plan calls for SpaceX to bring the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket back to Earth for a soft landing on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Landing, the seventh for this particular booster, is scheduled for approximately 8.5 minutes after launch.
Sherpa-LTC2 is scheduled to deploy from the Falcon 9 upper stage 49.5 minutes after liftoff, with the Starlinks to follow about 23 minutes later, SpaceX wrote in a mission description ( opens in a new tab).
SpaceX has already sent more than 3,000 Starlink satellites into orbit, in an effort to create a large constellation for broadband service aimed at remote areas. SpaceX has already launched more than 25 Starlink-focused missions by 2022.
This will be SpaceX’s 40th launch of the year and will continue to add to the Starlink megaconstellation. SpaceX has approval to launch 12,000 Starlink satellites and has asked an international regulator to give the thumbs up to 30,000 more.
In late August, founder and CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk announced plans to bring connectivity directly to smartphones via Starlink, along with T-Mobile. Another deal announced on Tuesday (August 30) will see Starlink service carried over to Royal Caribbean cruises.
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