SpaceX Beats Annual Launch Record As It Preps More Starlink Satellites
SpaceX has just completed its 32nd orbital launch of the year, beating the company’s own annual record in only about half the time.
The previous record, at 31 launches, was set last year. But on Friday, the company surpassed the count by launching another Falcon 9 rocket that’s carrying a batch of Starlink satellites into orbit.
Most notably, the record was broken in the middle of July. SpaceX now has another five months to raise the count even higher before the year is out.
Increasing the number of launches is good news for users of SpaceX’s satellite internet service, Starlink. The system works by using satellites in Earth’s orbit to relay high-speed broadband to users on the ground.
Starlink already has close to 500,000 users across the globe. However, the system's internet quality has become increasingly dependent on how many satellites the company has up in orbit. This is causing some Starlink subscribers to experience congestion problems likely due to too many users on the network.
In response, SpaceX has been telling customers the internet speeds over Starlink will improve as it launches more satellites in orbit. Currently, SpaceX has more than 2,500 active Starlink satellites in orbit. But the goal is to increase the count to over 4,200 over the next year, according to company CEO Elon Musk. To do so, SpaceX is aiming on using its upcoming and larger Starship craft to help it deploy even more Starlink satellites.
Friday’s batch of 46 Starlink satellites is designed to orbit over the Earth’s polar regions to help SpaceX expand Starlink access to areas including Alaska and northern Canada. The company is planning two more Starlink launches for the polar regions later this year.
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