SpaceX F9 - Starlink Group 6-30 - SLC-40

[Grendal]

Launch Date: November 27
Launch Window: 11PM EST (8PM PST, 04:00 UTC on the 28th)
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), Florida
Core Booster Recovery: ASDS
Booster: B1062.17
Fairings: Reused
Mass: 23 Starlink 2.0 mini Satellites
Orbit: LEO
Yearly Launch Number: 87 orbital, 2 suborbital losses

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the 120th group of satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network, a mission designated Starlink 6-30. The Starlink Group 6-30 mission is a V2 mini launch to their second generation constellation.

The Starlink Group 6-30 mission is headed to the 43º inclination shell of Starlink's second generation constellation. Satellites in this shell will be orbiting Earth in a 530km circular orbit at 43º inclination. This mission will carry 23 Starlink v2 Mini satellites into a 344x353km 43° orbit and from there they'll raise their orbits to operational altitude.

 

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[Grendal]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1729353049620217960

 

[Grendal]

And success....again.

 

[JB47394]

And success....again.

Boring. Blow up something so we can analyze it. But don't do it so high that we can't get good information from the YouTube streams. Be considerate.

As these threads fade after launch, I'm going to use this one for a bit of reflection. I've been pondering the spinoff consequences of SpaceX operating the way they do. We can see a lot of what they do, and Elon makes enough public statements to keep us interested. Certainly their approach of moving fast and breaking things provides us with lots of ponder fodder. Companies like Blue Origin are boring as can be because they really don't want any attention from the hoi polloi. They operate like businessmen, not engineer enthusiasts.

One of the most important spinoffs I think is that SpaceX is making science and engineering cool again. It was that way in the days of Apollo, and that inspired an entire generation to learn (and, sadly, to be frustrated by the space industry not expanding as they dreamed). It's my hope that this "public" science and engineering project has the same sort of effect on the kids who are growing up in a society that seems to be forgetting what the scientific method is.

Lesser effects are the general enthusiasm by all the folks who enjoy following along at various levels. Some just like to see rockets go up and they catch a tidbit of information here or there. At the other end are the hardcore engineers who do stuff like that computational fluid dynamics simulation of the movement of the propellants in the tanks during staging. Outside of it all are all the enthusiasts who love publishing information that they glean. Twenty-four hour streams, flyovers of Starbase, tweeting about a bit of information here or there, etc. There's coverage at almost every level of detail that anyone could want.

It's almost like the Peace Corps golden years back in the 1960s. There's a lot of idealism and enthusiasm, and I'm certainly happy to see something so upbeat happening. The old man in me sees it all souring because Elon Musk and SpaceX are not the entire world, and the entire world has a really bad track record of what they do with new technologies.