SpaceX has launched the first set of two Starlink demonstration satellites into space from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, US, to provide global internet services.
Known as Microsat2a and Microsoft2b, the satellites accompanied the PAZ satellite on a Falcon 9 rocket.
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The radar satellite will be operated by Spanish operator Hisdesat to serve both the government and commercial customers. Airbus has built the PAZ satellite, which features a 5.5-year mission life.
The newly launched Starlink satellites are the first spacecrafts built by SpaceX.
They are designed to collect data to test and demonstrate the feasibility of the company’s proposed network of internet-beaming satellites, Starlink, reported cnbc.com.
When launched, the network will comprise a constellation of 4,425 Ka/Ku-band low-Earth orbit satellites. SpaceX aims to start launching the first constellation of these satellites next year.
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By GlobalDataThe network is expected to become operational when 800 satellites will be deployed into space.
The Microsat2a and Microsoft2b satellites will orbit approximately 700 miles above Earth, which is the same altitude of the final Starlink constellation.
In the latest launch, SpaceX did not attempt to recover the first stage of Falcon 9, but performed a test landing of the payload fairing.
However, the fairing missed its planned target by a few hundred metres.
The fairing’s integrated parafoil has reduced the descent velocity sufficient enough for it to survive its ocean landing, noted SpaceX.
