SpaceX is set to launch a new batch of Starlink satellites on Sunday (June 4).
A Falcon 9 rocket will launch 22 of SpaceX’s new “V2 Mini” internet satellites for its Starlink communications constellation Sunday from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Launch is scheduled for 5:56 a.m. EDT (0956 GMT).
SpaceX will aim to recover the Falcon 9 first stage booster by landing it on the drone ship named A Shortfall of Gravitas out in the Atlantic Ocean. You can watch the action live here at Space.com when the time comes courtesy of SpaceX, or directly via the company. SpaceX’s webcast will begin about 20 minutes before liftoff. There is a 50% chance of good weather for the launch.
Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky
Launch of this Starlink mission has been delayed from May 30. It follows the launch of 52 Starlink satellites on May 30 and will be followed, if all goes according to plan, by the launch Sunday (June 4) of a SpaceX Dragon capsule on a robotic resupply mission to the International Space Station.
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SpaceX’s V2 Mini satellites are more powerful versions of its earlier Starlink spacecraft. The new satellites provide greater broadband capacity, according to the company, and are fitted out with Hall thruster electric propulsion systems, which provide more than twice the amount of thrust compared to those used on older iterations.
There are over 4,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, and the company has regulatory approval to launch up to 12,000 more. SpaceX is, however, applying for permission to add 30,000 more satellites to the project.
