SpaceX launched its 10,000th Starlink satellite on October 19th at 17.39 UTC. Some observers said there had been a malfunction but SpaceX later confirmed all the satellites had been deployed and the valuable booster stage of the rocket successfully landed on its floating drone ship eight minutes after launch.
Indeed, the day represented a double celebration given that one rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral and a second was launched from the Vandenburg Airforce Base in California. A total of 56 satellites were deployed, with each rocket carrying 28 satellites..
According to astrophysicist Johnathan McDowell, SpaceX has now launched 10,044 satellites of which 8,680 are successfully in orbit, with 8,664 classified as “working”. He says that 237 are in the process of being deorbited. Each Starlink has an orbital life of about five years.
The Starlink pair of launches, as well as reaching the record 10,000+ satellites, also achieved another record, of 139 launches of its Falcon 9 rocket this year. It is likely that there will be around 150 launches of the Falcon this year, a spectacular achievement by any measure.
One of the booster stages was used for the 31st time – another record.
SpaceX has FCC permission to loft 12,000 Starlink satellites, and the mega-constellation could eventually comprise more than 30,000 spacecraft.
