SpaceX launches two Falcon 9 rockets with 53 Starlink satellites each in a single day

SpaceX on Saturday, May 14, launched a rocket carrying 53 satellites for the Starlink internet constellation from California, its second such effort in less than 24 hours. 

The two-stage Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Saturday at 2:10 am IST from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The rocket's first stage returned to Earth and landed at sea on the SpaceX droneship 'Just Read the Instructions' about 8.5 minutes after liftoff.

The deployment of all 53 satellites was completed less than an hour after launch.

Watch Falcon 9 launch 53 Starlink satellites into orbit

The May 14 launch was the second Starlink mission in many days for SpaceX. Another Falcon 9 had launched 53 of the broadband spacecraft on May 13 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and also aced its touchdown on a droneship off Baja California.

Saturday's launch and landing were the fifth for that particular Falcon 9 first stage. The rocket was brand-new, with no previous space missions under its belt, SpaceX representatives said during a webcast of the launch.

The liftoff adds to a very busy stretch for SpaceX with the company having launched 20 orbital flights in 2022 - 13 of which are dedicated Starlink missions.

SpaceX has already launched more than 2,500 Starlink satellites to date but plans to loft many more. The next-generation version of the broadband mega constellation could eventually harbour up to 30,000 satellites, the company says.

Starlink ready to ship in 32 countries

Starlink is now available in 32 countries around the world, the company announced via a tweet on May 13. It shared a map through  Twitter, which shows the countries where Starlink is available to ship immediately - a majority of them bring in Europe. Several countries in South America, Africa, and India are marked as coming soon on the map. 

Back in October 2021, Starlink said that its services will be live in India by December 2022. However, due to its failure in obtaining regulatory permission, Starlink could not proceed as intended. The company was asked to issue a refund of 5,000 terminals that were pre-ordered by customers in India.

Previously, it was said that customers in India have to pay $99, which roughly translates to Rs. 7,400 for Starlink services. The internet connection is said to have a latency between 20 to 40 milliseconds and speeds might range between 50-Mbps to 150Mbps.