Watch SpaceX launch Starlink satellites equipped with ‘sun visors’ live

Watch SpaceX launch Starlink satellites equipped with ‘sun visors’ live

4 years ago
Anonymous $qOHwDUKgAF

https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/08/watch-spacex-launch-starlink-satellites-equipped-with-sun-visors-live/

SpaceX has a launch schedule for today, for a combined payload that includes 57 of its Starlink satellites, as well as two satellites it’s flying on behalf of BlackSky. The launch is set to take off at 11:59 AM EDT (8:59 AM PDT), from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch broadcast above will go live at around 15 minutes prior to that window, so at around 11:44 AM EDT (8:44 AM PDT).

This mission will increase the size of SpaceX’s Starlink constellation to 536 active production satellites, helping it move closer to its goal of launching an active consumer broadband internet service by later this year. The 57 satellites being launched today are all also equipped with a new ‘sun visor’ system devised by SpaceX to block reflections from the Sun on the Starlink satellite radio surfaces, which is a measure put in place to help limit their impact on night sky observation from Earth by scientists.