SpaceX has revealed a brand new and mysterious motive to delay its personal rocket launch: one thing referred to as “constellation optimization.”
Referred to as Starlink 2-4, the mission is now scheduled to launch a batch of 51 Starlink V1.5 satellites to a semi-polar Earth orbit no sooner than (NET) 8:15 am PST (16:15 UTC) on Sunday, January fifteenth. That represents an enormous shift in launch timing, as more moderen makes an attempt have been aiming to raise off round 7-8 pm. A big time change usually implies {that a} launch is focusing on a very completely different vacation spot, however information offered by SpaceX means that that’s not the case, elevating extra questions.
Starlink 2-4 isn’t new to launch delays. Initially scheduled to launch in November 2022, unspecified points with the rocket brought on SpaceX to indefinitely delay the mission. Launches for NASA and an Israeli firm then took priority, pushing Starlink 2-4 into early 2023. SpaceX introduced a goal of January ninth, however that try was referred to as off by poor climate within the Pacific Ocean, the place the mission’s Falcon 9 booster is scheduled to land.
SpaceX then delayed the mission from January tenth to the eleventh “to take a better have a look at information from second stage.” On January eleventh, SpaceX delayed the mission to January 14th “to permit extra time for pre-launch checkouts.” Lower than 4 hours later, SpaceX delayed the mission once more, deciding on the present January fifteenth goal and debuting “constellation optimization” as a uncommon new reason behind launch delays.
Logical hypothesis prompt that constellation optimization – mixed with the main timing change – might have referred to a call to launch Starlink 2-4 to a distinct orbital shell. SpaceX’s Starlink Gen1 constellation has 5 distinct shells, and the corporate’s Vandenberg Area Drive Base (VSFB), California pad can theoretically launch to all of them. SpaceX’s Starlink V1.5 satellites are additionally theoretically equivalent, which means that any satellite tv for pc can launch to any shell and do its job with out concern.
Nevertheless, up to date orbit information (Two Line Parts or TLEs) disseminated by SpaceX reveals that Falcon 9 continues to be scheduled to launch Starlink 2-4 to an almost equivalent orbit and thus the identical Group 2 shell as earlier than. “Constellation optimization” might as a substitute seek advice from altering which planes the identical Group 2 satellites find yourself at, tweaking the place and when their added protection can be felt most by Starlink web customers.
Subsequent Spaceflight studies that Starlink 2-4 will use Falcon 9 booster B1075, marking the second time the corporate has debuted a brand new Falcon booster on an inside mission. Up till very just lately, new Falcon boosters have been virtually all the time reserved for NASA or the US army, SpaceX’s most conservative clients. However SpaceX’s program of Falcon booster reuse has grow to be so profitable and so routine that even NASA and the army seem like ambivalent about making the most of the primary launch of a brand new Falcon 9.
B1075 will try and land on drone ship Of Course I Nonetheless Love You (OCISLY) round 662 kilometers (411 mi) southwest of California, off of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. SpaceX will broadcast the launch and touchdown reside, starting round 8:13 am PST (16:13 UTC) on Sunday if the mission can keep away from additional delays.