SpaceX Sets Record Hauling 143 Satellites in Single-Go

SpaceX set a world record by sending 143 satellites into orbit in a single rocket. A SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket transported some 143 satellites in a rideshare mission in which some 10 satellites belonged to SpaceX’s Starlink internet network while the remaining 130 satellites belonged to other customers.

The record-setting launch was the first of SpaceX’s SmallSat Rideshare Program.

Falcon 9 launches 143 spacecraft to orbit — the most ever deployed on a single mission — completing SpaceX’s first dedicated SmallSat Rideshare Program mission pic.twitter.com/CJSUvKWeb4

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 25, 2021

The program started to facilitate the customers to reach orbit with SpaceX directly.

The previous record for hauling the most-number of satellites in a single-go to space was held by an Indian rocket PSLV that carried 104 satellites three years ago in 2017 and now SpaceX holds it.

SpaceX’s Transporter-1 mission was launched in 2019 that has been dedicated to sending large batches of small satellites, also called smallsats, to space instead of focusing on one large payload.

According to sources, SpaceX offered a price of $15,000 per kilogram (kg) for each satellite to be delivered in the orbit in Falcon-9.

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However, as the number of smallsats is growing in the orbit, the experts are becoming worried that space in the region is getting populated.

This will increase the chances of the collision of satellites like it has in the past.

However, the collision is not threatening for the population on Earth.