Starlink: Falcon 9 is ready to go

The carrier, stationary on the SLC-40 ramp of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, is waiting for the opening of the time window for the launch into orbit, postponed due to bad weather conditions.

Thespace racehas never been as vigorous as it has been in recent years. This is confirmed by the ambitious projects of a number of private investors, including ElonMusk. For example, he had the idea of putting into orbit a real constellationof 12,000 artificial satellites, with the aim of bringing a stable internet connection, and at speeds higher than those guaranteed by the optical fiber. The first launch of the Starlinkproject, which will put the first 60 satellites into orbit, is scheduled for 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, Italian time, at 10:30 p.m. on Friday on the east coast of the United States, from the SLC-40 launch site in CapeCanaveral, Florida.

The US FederalCommunications Commission‘s green light to create a network of low-orbit satellites for communications finally opened the doors of space to the Falcon 9 rocket, ready for several hours on the launch pad. Launch postponed due to some delays due to bad weather conditions. Divided according to the orbit of positioning, about 4400 in high orbit (between 1100 and 1300 km altitude) and 7500 in lower orbit, the number of these mini satellites is greater than the number of all active satellites that currently pass silently on our heads.

Elon Musk’s declared intention is to pass more than half of the internet traffic on this satellite network, a system that involves the mixed use of radiowaves and laser technology. When a message is sent over the network via Starlink, a ground station will communicate with the nearest satellite via radiowaves. This is where communication between satellites begins, using lasertechnologies, until the satellite above its destination is reached, presumably in a few fractions of a second. From there it will be converted into radio waves which will then be transmitted to the receiving station on Earth. The system, given the coverage provided by the network of 12 thousand satellites, will allow to have a capillaryinternet coverage throughout the globe, thus reaching even remote places, not served by normal connections.