Science
In its first in-house rideshare mission, SpaceX launches record batches of satellites
Under the company's new cost-cutting SmallSat Rideshare Program, SpaceX launched a batch of 143 spacecraft to space from Florida on Sunday morning, breaking the record for the most satellites lofted into space on a single launch.
For SpaceX, which unveiled its SmallSat Rideshare Program in 2019, the Transporter-1 mission kicks off a potentially lucrative business line, essentially a carpool for dozens of satellites of various shapes and sizes. The program provides small satellite companies with relatively cheap access to space, starting at $1 million for the first 485 pounds.
Instead of buying an entire rocket at a much higher price, a company's small satellite can hitch a trip to space with other spacecraft, much like a rideshare Uber.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifted off 24 hours later from its Cape Canaveral Space Force Station launch pad at 10AM ET after scrubbing an initial launch attempt on Saturday because of bad weather, sending a mix of shoebox-sized CubeSats and much heavier microsatellites to a 326-mile-high polar orbit, an unusual trajectory for a launch site in Florida. In August of last year, SpaceX launched its first polar mission from Florida.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/js3zVM77rH
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 24, 2021
The launch, SpaceX's third so far this year, marks the greatest number of satellites carried to space on a single rocket, a record of 104 satellites previously held by an Indian satellite launch in 2017. Aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9, the 143 spacecraft include 48 Earth imaging satellites dubbed Planet SuperDoves, 17 small communications satellites for Toronto-based Kepler, and 30 small US and European satellites packaged by Berlin, Germany-based Exolaunch.
There are also small capsules of human ashes arranged by Celestis, a spaceflight memorial company, aboard the flight.
Ten Starlink satellites are also hitching a ride, inching SpaceX towards the 1,000 mark to support its broadband internet constellation for the number of active satellites in space.
After its two 187-pound satellites were damaged during launch processing at Cape Canaveral, DARPA, the Pentagon's R&D agency, pulled out of the rideshare mission earlier this month.
Just four days after SpaceX launched 60 of its Starlink satellites to space, the Transporter-1 mission keeps pace with what is set to be a remarkably eventful year in orbit as SpaceX, OneWeb and other businesses race to build vast internet-beaming satellite constellations.
According to data compiled by Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard astronomer and expert satellite tracker, SpaceX has launched more satellites into space over the past 16 days than the world has launched in any year before 2013.
Rideshare missions on larger rockets attract a growing demand from small satellite companies for affordable launch services, increasing competition with firms such as Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit with smaller rockets tailored for dedicated small satellite launches.
