His SpaceX program will be launching a rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, which will house two experimental satellites.
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SpaceX’s test satellites won’t be the only thing aboard the rocket.
SpaceX Falcon 9 preparing for launch. As part of its payload the Falcon Heavy is carrying Musk’s cherry red Roadster from Tesla, his electric auto company.
The two SpaceX satellite-internet prototypes, known as Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b, rode along today as secondary payloads. Recovering and reusing major pieces of rockets is one of Musk’s key strategies. Currently, a typical Falcon 9 launch costs around 62 million US dollars. Typically the first-stage boosters of the Falcon 9 are recovered.
SpaceX launched the world’s most powerful rocket, the Falcon Heavy (pictured), this month. “Now targeting launch of PAZ for February 22 at 6:17 a.m. PST from Vandenberg Air Force Base”.
In order to increase their chances of recovering reusable fairings, SpaceX has brought in a little help for this attempt.
Soon after the launch, the rocket geared up to Max-Q which is the maximum dynamic pressure on the rocket within few minutes and then, finally hitting the maximum speed of around 27,669 km/h.
If SpaceX can successfully recover fairings in the future it would be a huge win for the company.
Once there, the newly-commissioned “Mr. Steven” retrieval ship would be waiting to catch them in its net.
The new launch date was set for February 21, but about 20 minutes before the 6:17 a.m. liftoff time, the launch was delayed because of “strong upper level winds” and moved to February 22. The Falcon 9 boosters essentially reignite their engines as they fall back to Earth, helping to control and slow their descent.
SpaceX’s Dragon 2 capsule was used by Nasa to send cargo to the International Space Station.
For example, the total cost of a Falcon 9 launch is estimated to be about $61 million.
Thursday’s launch – originally slated for Wednesday but put on hold because of “high altitude wind shear” – marks the first big step in Musk’s plan for “rebuilding the internet in space”, as he put it in 2015.
The payload fairings are clam shell-like nose cone halves that protect the craft’s payload. Its plan is slightly simpler, just bundling in a parachute to the housing, and the first system is due to be tested later this year.
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If successful, the two prototype satellites will help pave the way for SpaceX’s plans to launch almost 12,000 satellites to low Earth orbit as soon as 2024. The FCC hasn’t officially green-lit Starlink yet, but commission chairman Ajit Pai recently endorsed the project and said he had urged the other four commissioners to do so as well. Producing a low cost and high-quality internet service has endorsed SpaceX to launch its first internet service “Starlink” into space this Saturday.
