SpaceX successfully launched 23 Starlink satellites from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Sunday night. This brings the total number of Starlink satellites in orbit to over 6,000. It was the 15th mission for the reusable booster rocket, with nine of those missions being Starlink missions.
The booster rocket, powered by a million pounds of rocket-grade kerosene, returned to the drone ship named A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean after separation. It will be refurbished for a future mission.
The launch took place during a strong geomagnetic storm affecting Earth’s atmosphere. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk mentioned on social media that the storm was causing service disruptions for the Starlink satellites, which are currently under a lot of pressure but holding up well.
The storm is a result of variations in the solar wind, causing significant shifts in atmospheric currents and plasma fields in Earth’s magnetosphere. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has observed at least seven intense solar flares known as Coronal Mass Ejections since Wednesday.
SpaceX has been given authorization to deploy 12,000 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit and has applied for approval for an additional 30,000.