Elon Musk‘s SpaceX launched three back-to-back missions to outer space from Saturday to Monday, in a bid to make up for the slowdown in launch activities in July.
What Happened: The company launched 21 Starlink satellites on Saturday, the Space Norway Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission mission (ASBM) on Sunday and another 23 Starlink satellites on Monday, marking three consecutive days of launches.
SpaceX has completed six launches thus far in August, with more than half of the month still ahead. The company launched only six times throughout July, owing to a two-week pause in operations mid-month.
SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket with 20 Starlink satellites from California on July 11. However, the Starlink satellites were deployed in a lower-than-intended orbit owing to an issue with the rocket's second-stage engine. The Starlink satellites were demised and the company’s launch operations were subsequently placed on hold until July 27.
The resumption of activities followed an investigation by the company into the root cause of the mishap with oversight from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the deployment of necessary design changes.
Why It Matters: SpaceX completed 67 missions using its Falcon launch vehicles as of the end of the second quarter, with its Falcon 9 workhorse alone accounting for 66 launches. The company is looking to launch 144 times in 2024, averaging twelve times per month.
For the entirety of 2023, SpaceX completed 96 launches, marking a 57% year-on-year increase, not including two Starship test flights. The company's launch numbers have been steadily increasing, with 26 launches in 2020, 31 in 2021, and 61 in 2022.
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Photo courtesy: SpaceX
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