SpaceX Breaks Reused Rocket Launching Record; Elon Musk Announces Ambitious Missions

SpaceX, Elon Musk's private space business, broke its own rocket launch and reuse record. Recently, the company used a Falcon 9 rocket to successfully execute a mission to launch 22 of its Starlink satellites into orbit.

The B1058 Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched and landed 16 times, breaking any prior SpaceX record for the number of times it has been reused, The Independent reported.

On Sunday night, the rocket launched from the Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and its first stage booster safely touched down on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Starlink satellites were launched into low-Earth orbit about an hour after takeoff, greatly extending SpaceX's internet network in orbit. The business is providing consumers with high-speed internet access all around the globe thanks to the approximately 4,000 operational Starlink satellites that are already in orbit.

The Falcon 9 rocket utilized for this mission has a remarkable flying history and flew before, in December 2022. Notably, Demo-2, SpaceX's first crewed mission that sent two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station in 2020, used the same rocket.

This mission's 22 satellites are "V2 Minis," a more advanced and potent variation of SpaceX's broadband ship. These satellites are bigger than the previous version, although they are still smaller than the final V2 ones that will be launched by SpaceX's Starship next-generation launch vehicle, per Space.com.

Key innovations, including more potent phased array antennas and the usage of E-band for backhaul, are included in the V2 Minis, which enable almost four times greater capacity per satellite in comparison to older models.

Satellites Collision Risk Increases

Despite its success in growing the Starlink constellation, SpaceX has encountered issues with maneuvers that prevent collisions. According to a recent estimate, between December 2022 and May 2023, Starlink satellites will have to execute 25,000 collision avoidance maneuvers.

During that time, the satellites carried out an amazing 137 collision avoidance maneuvers per day on average. Since the launch of the Starlink satellites in 2019, SpaceX has reported performing 50,000 collision avoidance maneuvers altogether.

SpaceX intends to launch 12,000 satellites altogether in the next few years, with a long-term objective of placing 42,000 satellites. Currently, 4,411 Starlink satellites are in orbit, Gizmodo reported.

Concerns about possible collisions with other objects have grown as there are more satellites in orbit. The European Space Agency's Aeolus satellite was moved in 2019 to avoid colliding with a Starlink satellite, and China complained to the UN in 2021 after having to alter the trajectory of its space station to avoid two Starlink satellites.

Elon Musk Announces SpaceX Plans

After the latest satellite launches, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gave an update about the company's next spacecraft, the largest rocket ever constructed. Musk tweeted that Raptor engines could generate 9,000 tons (20 million lbs) of force at sea level if their thrust was boosted by 20 percent.

This upgrade would allow the delivery of nearly 200 tons of cargo to a practical orbit while preserving complete and speedy reusability, he said.

Musk's post also emphasized the lofty goals for SpaceX's next operations. He suggested the possibility of launching 50 rockets every three days, resulting in an astounding payload capability of over a megaton to orbit every year. Musk underlined that this amount of power would be enough to build a self-sufficient metropolis on Mars.