A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is ready to release 4 communications satellites for Astranis on the Cape Canaveral Area Pressure Station, Florida on December 20, 2024. SpaceX will try to ship new satellites into area on Tuesday. Photograph by means of Joe Marino/UPI | License Photograph
Dec. 30 (UPI) — In what is predicted to be SpaceX’s ultimate release in a record-breaking 2024, the corporate introduced it had behind schedule its latest deployment of Starlink satellites to New Yr’s Eve.
The release, which was once slated for early Monday, was once scrubbed and rescheduled for Tuesday at 12:34 a.m. EST from the Kennedy Area Heart in Florida. SpaceX mentioned the release window could be open till 1:28 a.m.
SpaceX didn’t give a reason why for the extend in its observe on its web site.
“That is the sixteenth flight for the primary level booster supporting this venture, which up to now introduced Group-6, BlueBird-1, USSF-124, mPOWER-B, and 11 Starlink missions,” SpaceX mentioned.
If the release is going off as deliberate, it’s going to be SpaceX’s 134th orbital release of the yr, shattering its previous listing of 96 units final yr, a just about 40% build up.
With its breakneck agenda, SpaceX has best run into a couple of hiccups. On July 12, the higher level of a Falcon 9 listing introduced from the Vanderberg Area Pressure Base didn’t deploy 21 Starlink satellites dropping all 20 onboard.
Tuesday’s release is predicted to position 21 new satellites into orbit, 13 with direct-to-cell capacity. It could be SpaceX’s 3rd release in 3 days, following a Starlink release at Vanderberg and the four-satellite deployment for Astranis at Cape Canaveral.
