This morning, another Starlinek group starts with three SkySat satellites

At 11:21 Polish time, the Falcon 9 rocket will launch from Cape Canaveral, which will launch 58 more satellites of the Starlink constellation. SkySat observation satellites owned by Planet Labs will occupy the other three places.

As always, the rocket launch can be viewed on the SpaceX home page or simply in the window below (which we encourage).

As early as 12 minutes after launch, further SkySat satellites will separate from the second component of the rocket. Starlinki will start the separation process 26 minutes after the start.

Starlink is obvious, but SkySat ?

SkySat satellites, as I have already written here , will fly into orbit as part of the SmallSat Rideshare flight program implemented by SpaceX, where you can catch a flight into orbit during the start of the next Starlinków. The advantage of this program is unbeatable low rates for launching the satellite into orbit - Planet Labs spent about $ 500 on this flight. for every kilo of satellite, which is a rate never seen before on the market.

The Starlink constellation is growing at an impressive pace

So far, 480 satellites of the Starlink constellation have hit the orbit. The last flight was carried out just a week ago, and yet the company Elon Muska clearly does not intend to slow down the pace, even despite the ongoing pandemic.

As part of the last flight, the first satellite equipped with VisorSat came into orbit, which is to, at least in part, deal with the problem of light reflection by satellites, so astronomers could see entire strings of bright satellites in the sky - though fascinating in their own way, they are destructive sky for professional sky observers conducting scientific observations with the largest terrestrial telescopes.

It is not known how many of the satellites being lifted today are equipped with a VisorSat iris, and thus it is not known what their visibility in the sky will be.

As soon as information appears on whether it will be possible to observe satellites from Poland, we will place it below, which is why I encourage you to return to this article after the start, when the orbital parameters will allow you to estimate the visibility of satellites in the Polish sky.

This morning, another group of Starlineks starts with three SkySat satellites