SpaceX has delayed the launch of 60 Starlink satellites, which were due to be launched into orbit this evening.
The Falcon 9 rocket has been rescheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, although the new launch time is yet to be announced.
This is the tenth batch of Starlink satellites, bringing the total number in orbit to over 500.
NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre said: “SpaceX is scheduled to launch 60 Starlink satellites from a Falcon 9.
“This will be the 10th mission in support of the constellation of networked satellites known as Starlink.
“The goal of Starlink is to create a network that will help provide internet services to those who are not yet connected, and to provide reliable and affordable internet across the globe.”
During the launch, the Falcon 9 rocket will carry the Starlink satellites into orbit, before attempting to land at sea.
Elon Musk hopes the satellites will bring low-cost internet to remote areas on Earth.
Starlink explained: “With performance that far surpasses that of traditional satellite internet, and a global network unbounded by ground infrastructure limitations, Starlink will deliver high speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable.”
However, several astronomers have raised concerns that one of the satellites could pass in front of a telescope and obscure an image.
In a recent study, published in arXiv, researchers led by Stefano Gallozzi, wrote: "Depending on their altitude and surface reflectivity, their contribution to the sky brightness is not negligible for professional ground based observations.
"With the huge amount of about 50,000 new artificial satellites for telecommunications planned to be launched in Medium and Low Earth Orbit, the mean density of artificial objects will be of >1 satellite for square sky degree; this will inevitably harm professional astronomical images.”
While the launch has been delayed, Brits will still have several opportunities to see the Starlink satellites from the UK this week.
According to Find Starlink, the satellites will be visible from the UK at:
3:43 am, 24 Jun 2020
3:45 am, 25 Jun 2020
2:14 am, 26 Jun 2020
3:45 am, 26 Jun 2020
