SpaceX has launched around 482 satellites to enhance the constellation that might offer high-speed broadband internet access one day.
On May 30, NASA and SpaceX had launched the Demo-2 spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 3:22 pm EDT with two astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken aboard. The spacecraft reached the International Space Station (ISS) on May 31 at 10:16 a.m. EDT, slightly earlier than the scheduled time of 10:29 a.m. EDT. Now, SpaceX, a private United States-based aerospace company has launched the 60 high-speed internet satellites into orbit as a part of its Starlink project, bringing the total currently in orbit to 482.
A few days ago, SpaceX announced that the company was integrating its Starlink satellites with sun visor as a possible solution to a problem that plagued astronomers for detailed observations of the night sky. To date, SpaceX has launched around 482 satellites to enhance the constellation that might offer broadband internet access one day. SpaceX has developed Starlink satellites to offer high-speed broadband internet access to connect the billions of individuals around the world, especially for locations where the internet is completely unavailable, unreliable, or expensive. In previous launches, the company deployed a Starlink satellite with a dark coating as part of an experiment to reduce light-footprint.
Moreover, the company is working with many astronomers around the world to better understand engineering changes and the specifics of their observations to reduce satellite brightness. SpaceX is also planning to make the satellites invisible within a week of launch, changing the way the satellites fly to their operational altitude. Since it is a software change, SpaceX wants to implement this on all satellites as soon as possible. Moreover, SpaceX is planning to darken their satellites by adding a sun visor to block sunlight from hitting the spacecraft’s brightest parts. If all goes according to the plan, SpaceX is planning to launch more satellites (around 42,000) into orbit through its Starlink project.
