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Elon Musk's SpaceX is targeting a Wednesday launch for a further 48 Starlink satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The blast-off from the Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida will mark the second Starlink launch in March, and the seventh launch of satellites for the internet providing constellation this year.
SpaceX fans will be able to watch a live webcast of the Falcon 9 take off 15 minutes prior to the scheduled 8:45 a.m. EST launch on the SpaceX website.
Targeting Wednesday, March 9 for a Falcon 9 launch of 48 Starlink satellites to orbit from SLC-40 in Florida → https://t.co/bJFjLCzWdK
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 7, 2022
SpaceX gave a run-down of how the mission to launch the satellites to low-Earth orbit will proceed. Two and half minutes after take-off the rocket's main engines will cut off, four seconds later the first and second stages of the rocket will separate.
As the second stage engine fires, the first stage falls to Earth beginning "entry burn"—the process Falcon 9 rockets use to slow burn before re-encountering Earth's atmosphere—at around seven minutes and completing the process at around eight and a half minutes.
As the second stage engines cut off, the first stage lands on the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship positioned in the Atlantic Ocean. Just over an hour after the launch, the Starlink satellites will deploy.
This March 9 launch of Starlink satellites follows the March 3 launch of 47 units. It will bring the total number of Starlink units placed into low-Earth orbit during 2022 to 338.
There were three Starlink launches in February and two in January this year, with the most single units, 50, launched aboard a Falcon 9 blasting off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on February 25.
There are currently over 2,000 Starlink satellites in orbit and the ultimate aim is to have tens of thousands of the units in orbit around Earth.
The vulnerability of the space-based internet system was demonstrated in February, when a geomagnetic storm caused 40 of the units to fall out of orbit and re-enter Earth's atmosphere.
The aim of the Starlink constellation of satellites is to provide high-speed, low-latency broadband internet across the world. Musk's SpaceX company, which operates Starlink, says that the low-Earth orbit system can provide video calls, online gaming, streaming, and other high data rate activities that aren't usually possible with satellite internet.
Among the countries where Starlink is available are the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Portugal, Australia, and New Zealand. Starlink is useful in regions where conventional internet connection is unfeasible, such as rural areas.
