Dec 26 (Reuters) – SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Monday that the company is now close to having 100 active Starlinks, the firm’s satellite internet service, in Iran, three months after he tweeted he would activate the service there amid protests around the Islamic country.
Musk said, “approaching 100 starlinks active in Iran”, in a tweet on Monday.
The billionaire had said in September that he would activate Starlink in Iran as part of a U.S.-backed effort “to advance internet freedom and the free flow of information” to Iranians.
The satellite-based broadband service could help Iranians circumvent the government’s restrictions on accessing the internet and certain social media platforms amid protests around the country.
The Islamic Republic has been engulfed in protests that erupted after the death in September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody after being arrested by the morality police for wearing “unsuitable attire”.
Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
FOX Business’ Charlie Gasparino discusses Tesla CEO Elon Musk announcement on Starlink.
Elon Musk said Monday that nearly 100 of SpaceX’s Starlink terminals are active in Iran, which has experienced intermittent internet disruptions and social media censorship in recent months during mass protests.
Starlink works by connecting satellites in low-earth orbit with user terminals on the ground.
Musk originally said in September that he would seek exemptions from sanctions on Iran so that Starlink could operate in the country.
A Starlink terminal, which connects with satellites in low-earth orbit. (Starlink / Fox News)
The move came after protests broke out over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while she was in the custody of Iran’s so-called morality police.
IRAN PROTESTS: UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL VOTES TO INVESTIGATE REGIME’S VIOLENT RESPONSE
Internet connectivity has been disrupted in the last few months, most recently around the city of Sanandaj in the east Kurdistan Province on Dec. 20, according to the internet monitor NetBlocks.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a payload of 53 Starlink satellites lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., April 21, 2022. (Reuters/Steve Nesius / Reuters Photos)
Aside from disruptions to internet service, Iran has also placed tight restrictions on social media and other content throughout the country.
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SpaceX sent thousands of Starlink terminals to Ukraine earlier this year after Russia invaded and throttled internet service in the country.
SpaceX launched its third Falcon 9 rocket in less than two days Saturday, sending 54 Starlink internet satellites into orbit using a recycled first-stage booster which was making its record 15th flight. It was also the California rocket builder’s 59th launch so far this year, nearly doubling its 2021 record.
Coated with soot from 14 previous re-entries, the veteran first stage’s nine Merlin engines ignited with a roar at 4:32 p.m. EST, smoothly pushing the 229-foot-tall rocket away from historic pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The launch followed a California flight Friday that put a $1.2 billion ocean-monitoring satellite into orbit, and a Falcon 9 flight from Florida Friday afternoon that sent two SES medium-altitude broadband satellites into space.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket using a first stage booster which was making a record-setting 15th flight thunders away from historic pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, boosting another 54 Starlink internet satellites into orbit.
William Harwood/CBS News
The Starlink launch had been planned for Friday as well, but SpaceX delayed it to Saturday to “prioritize” the SES launch.
In any case, first stage B1058, which first flew in May 2020 — helping boost the first piloted Crew Dragon ferry ship into space — chalked up another problem free-climb out of the dense lower atmosphere Saturday.
Two-and-a-half minutes after launch, the stage fell away and flew itself to touchdown on an off-shore landing barge. It was SpaceX’s 124th droneship landing, and its 158th successful recovery overall.
Booster B1058 sticks its 15th re-entry and landing, this one on an off-shore droneship, setting a new record for SpaceX.
SpaceX
The Falcon 9 second stage, meanwhile, completed its climb to space within seconds of the booster landing. The 54 Starlink satellites were released in a batch, pushing the total number of Starlink satellites launched to date by SpaceX to 3,612, as SpaceX continues to populate its globe-spanning constellation of laser-linked broadband relay stations.
Not all of the satellites are still operational or in orbit, but space statistician Jonathan McDowell estimates 3,230 were operational going into Saturday’s flight.
SpaceX launched 31 Falcon 9s in 2021. Two more launches are expected this year: another Starlink flight from Cape Canaveral, and the launch of an Israeli Earth-observation satellite from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California. Those will push SpaceX’s total to 61 launches in 2022.
William Harwood
Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News. He covered 129 space shuttle missions, every interplanetary flight since Voyager 2’s flyby of Neptune and scores of commercial and military launches. Based at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Harwood is a devoted amateur astronomer and co-author of “Comm Check: The Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia.”
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SpaceX will launch a batch of Starlink satellites on Sunday (July 24) in what will be the fifth launch for the program in July alone, and you can watch the whole thing live.
The company has a clutch of 53 Starlink internet satellites loaded aboard the Falcon 9 rocket that is scheduled to lift off during an instantaneous launch opportunity at 9:38 a.m. EDT (1338 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, according to a company statement (opens in new tab).
SpaceX is seeking to add to its 32 record launches in 2022 that it set just days ago with a Starlink launch on Friday (July 22).
SpaceX will broadcast the launch sequence and its attempt to land the first stage atop the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the nearby Atlantic Ocean. The feed will be available here at Space.com or directly via SpaceX’s YouTube channel.
Related: SpaceX’s Starlink satellite megaconstellation launches in photos
SpaceX usually begins coverage about 10 minutes before launch.
This Starlink launch, the fifth in July alone, follows a successful effort from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California Friday (July 22).
That blastoff brought 46 Starlink satellites to orbit, and the rocket’s first stage softly touched down on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean 8.5 minutes after launch. It was the second attempt to launch Starlink Group 3-2 to orbit following an abort induced by the Falcon 9 rocket at T-46 seconds on Thursday (July 21).
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches with the rising sun to carry 53 Starlink internet satellites to orbit from Pad 39A of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida on May 18, 2022. (Image credit: SpaceX)
SpaceX’s last Starlink launch from the east coast took place about a week ago on Sunday (July 17), from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station just down the road from KSC.
Starlink, the satellite Internet service from SpaceX, includes roughly 2,900 Starlink satellites (opens in new tab) launched to date. Starlink Group 4-25 adds on to previous launches this month from both the west and east coasts of the United States.
The company is working to amp up service quickly. It has regulatory approval to put at least 12,000 Starlink in orbit and is asking for an international regulator to loft another 30,000 satellites after that.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) and on Facebook (opens in new tab).
Update: This article was updated to reflect the successful launch.
SpaceX made it through its second attempt to launch 46 satellites on Friday (July 22), breaking a record along the way.
The two-stage Falcon 9 rocket, which induced a scrub at T-46 seconds on Thursday (July 21), lifted off successfully from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California Friday.
Liftoff took place at 1:40 p.m. EDT (1740 GMT or 10:40 a.m. local time at the launch site) amid severely foggy conditions on the west coast.
The launch allowed SpaceX to surpass its 31 record launches of 2021 with a 32nd record launch in 2022, and still counting.
Related: Falcon 9: SpaceX’s workhorse rocket
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in flight during a launch of Starlink satellites July 22, 2022. (Image credit: SpaceX)
Falcon 9’s first stage also completed its mission, landing atop the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship in the Pacific Ocean as planned, about 8.5 minutes after launch.
Prior to this effort, SpaceX most recently launched a set of Starlinks from Vandenberg on July 11. On that occasion, another set of 46 Starlink satellites made it to space and the rocket landed successfully upon the droneship.
SpaceX has launched far more Starlink batches from the U.S. East coast, most recently from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida on Sunday (July 17).
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 first stage makes a safe touchdown atop the droneship Of Course I Still Love You on July 22, 2022. (Image credit: SpaceX)
Starlink has more than 2,800 individual Starlink satellites (opens in new tab) launched to orbit as the company seeks to build out its satellite-internet service. Group 3-2 was SpaceX’s fourth Starlink launch in July alone.
SpaceX aims to build out the constellation quickly. It has regulatory approval to send 12,000 Starlink craft to orbit. The company is also asking an international regulator to approve 30,000 satellites after that.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) and on Facebook (opens in new tab).