SpaceX double launch puts 51 Starlinks and Inmarsat relay stations into orbit

On Friday, SpaceX launched Falcon 9 rockets from both coasts, launching 51 Starlink Internet satellites from California and then launching Inmarsat’s powerful commercial relay station into orbit from Florida.

The last batch of Starlinks was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base northwest of Los Angeles at 2:12 pm EDT. The ascent into space went smoothly, and 15 minutes after liftoff, the Starlinks were released into a heap, slowly spreading apart as they moved away.

SpaceX has now launched 3,981 broadband relay stations over 75 flights as the California-based rocket manufacturer fills its worldwide commercial constellation with tens of thousands of satellites, providing customers with relatively high-speed, low-latency internet anywhere on the planet.

With the Starlinks safely out of the way, SpaceX engineers at the Space Force Station at Cape Canaveral in Florida proceeded to launch the second Inmarsat 6-series communications satellite, a powerful new dual-band relay station designed for government and industrial-grade mobile communications.

The countdown went off without a hitch, and the rocket took off at 10:59 pm EST, illuminating the cloudy night sky for miles as it rose east over the Atlantic Ocean. About 30 minutes later, the 12,345-pound satellite was launched on its own.

“Inmarsat has focused solely on mobility, we don’t serve residential customers and fixed businesses that much,” Peter Hadinger, Inmarsat’s chief technology officer, told Spaceflight Now. “Our focus is on the maritime industry, the aviation industry and governments. But most of the things we do are on the move.”

The Inmarsat 6/F2 is capable of two-way communication with aircraft, ships at sea and other vehicles as they “rock and rock and do everything they do,” Hadinger said. “So it all needs to be tracked and transmitted from beam to beam and satellite to satellite as the user moves around the world.”

Launched into a highly elliptical orbit, the new satellite will use electric propulsion to orbit 22,300 miles above the equator, where it will appear stationary in the sky.

After testing and validation, Inmarsat 6/F2 will begin operations over the Atlantic Ocean, joining a similar satellite launched earlier.

“What makes it unique is all the signal processing that goes on,” Hadinger said. Satellites “are capable of shaping beams on Earth and moving them in real time, creating channels as needed, moving spacecraft power to where it’s needed. And that makes it a very powerful spacecraft.”

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