Musk shows 60 satellites in rocket fairing
May 13, 2019
By Chris Forrester
Elon Musk tweeted pictures on May 11th of his first batch of ‘Starlink’ satellites squeezed into its rocket’s fairing ahead of a planned launch on Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on conditions.
Musk admitted they were a “tight fit” which is something of an understatement. Musk said that there were plenty of things which could go wrong on this first mission launch, and added that 6 more launches of 60 each time were needed for “minor” global coverage, and that 12 launches would deliver “moderate” global coverage.
The Falcon 9 rocket, and its fairings, are the same as that used to launch Musk’s tesla roadster into space more than a year ago.
Each satellite has been described as a relatively thin rectangle and ‘flat packed’ into the fairing. Each weighs an estimated 200-300 kgs
The Starlink ambitions are considerable. In total Musk has received permissions to launch almost 12,000 satellites into space.