SpaceX just launched the biggest carpool in the world, to space. The spacecraft consisted of 143 satellites and took off on Sunday from Florida. The firm’s new Smallsat Rideshare Program, a cost-cutting program, undertook this mission. All of the satellites were launched in a single launch.
The mission is called the Trasporter1. It is the kick-off for the Smallsat Rideshare Program, which was introduced by SpaceX way back in 2019. The Transporter is a program to send several satellites of different sizes and shapes in dozens of batches into space at the same time. The idea is to issue cheaper space-access for smaller companies that also work on satellites. The most affordable of it begins as low as $1 million.
SpaceX Launch Of The Transporter:
SpaceX’s new mission is being compared to an Uber ride being shared. Tiny satellites can be knocked in together with several others and be launched without the need to buy a whole new, expensive rocket. The launch, at first, was to take place on Saturday. But due to severe climate problems, it was scrubbed. The rocket called Falcon9 took off on a Sunday, the next morning instead.
The launch happened from the Cape Canaveral Station, precisely at 10 a.m. It carried many satellites of the size of a shoebox, called CubeSats. It also carried several heavier satellites with it. This also marks SpaceX’s third launch this year. The firm also enters the record books for launching the most number of satellites at once. The record was previously held by a 2017 Indian launch of satellites. The Indian rocket had 104 satellites.
SpaceX has now sent more satellites into orbit than any launches that happened in an entire year, before 2013, just in the last 16 days. The company may soon reach the benchmark of a thousand satellites roaming a constellation of human satellites.
