CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — Go ahead and set the alarm clock if you want to catch a possible jellyfish effect during SpaceX’s Starlink launch early Tuesday morning.
What You Need To Know
- Because of the time of the launch, a jellyfish effect is possible
The Falcon 9 rocket will send up Starlink 10-49 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, SpaceX stated.
The launch window is set to open at 1:49 a.m. ET and will close at 5:49 a.m. ET.
The current liftoff time is 5:33 a.m. ET.
Because of the time of the launch, a jellyfish effect is possible. The jellyfish effect is when the Falcon 9 rocket’s (or any rocket’s) exhaust plume grows and creates a jellyfish-looking “cloud” from the exhaust that has a glowing appearance if the launch is near dawn and dusk.
The 45th Weather Squadron gives a 90% chance of good liftoff conditions, with the only concern being the cumulus cloud and anvil cloud rules.
Find out more about the weather criteria for a Falcon 9 launch.
The Big 3-7
This will be the 37th mission for Falcon 9’s first-stage booster B1067.
It has a long career sending Starlink satellites and a few crewed missions to the International Space Station.
After stage separation, the first-stage rocket will land on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.
About the mission
The 29 satellites will head to low Earth orbit to join the thousands of their mechanized siblings already there.
Once deployed and in their orbit, they will provide internet service to many parts of Earth.
The Starlink company is owned by SpaceX.
Dr. Jonathan McDowell, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been keeping track of Starlink satellites.
Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:
- 11,028 are in orbit
- 9,733 are in operational orbit