Last year, Elon Musk’s SpaceX fell just short of its stated plans for 100 space launches. Although having about a hundred starts is a big jump from 61 in 2022. The company plans an even bigger leap for 2024.
On October 18, at the US Senate Subcommittee on Space and Science, SpaceX Vice President Bill Gerstenmaier announced plans for 12 space flights per month, or 144 per year. Or one launch for almost three days – a number that would have been incredible just a few years ago.
Liga.Tech collected information about SpaceX’s main plans for 2024.
Starlink and missions to orbit
About two-thirds of SpaceX’s launches in 2023 will launch Starlink satellites. This will continue into 2024 as the constellation is not yet completed. Starlink currently consists of about 5,230 satellites, says astrophysicist and satellite researcher Jonathan McDowell. SpaceX has approval to deploy 12,000 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit and has applied for approval for another 30,000 at the top. Consequently, Starlink shipments must continue to be launched into space from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida.
We’ll also see several more astronaut launches via SpaceX this year. The company has already launched three crews to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2023 – two for NASA and one for Axiom Space, a Houston-based company aiming to create its own outpost in orbit in a few years.
SpaceX will send five missions into the sky this year if all goes according to plan. These are Crew-8 and Crew-9 in February and August. Axiom’s AX-3 mission is scheduled for January 17, while AX-4 is not targeted until October. SpaceX also plans to launch Polaris Dawn, a low-Earth orbit mission, in April.
From phone to satellite
On January 3, the Falcon 9 launch vehicle launched 21 Starlink satellites into orbit. Among them is the first batch of six satellites for the Direct to Cell service. They will transmit the signal directly to smartphones.
This will allow you to connect from a mobile phone anywhere in the world. “While this is a great solution for locations without mobile coverage, it does not provide significant competition to existing terrestrial cellular networks,” speaks head of SpaceX.
Direct to Cell will provide the ability to exchange voice messages, text and files via satellite communications. Operators T-Mobile, Rogers, KDDI, Optus, One New Zealand, Salt Mobile AG and Entel Chile will collaborate with SpaceX.
The US Federal Communications Commission has allowed SpaceX to test Direct to Cell service in December 2023.
Starship is preparing for launch
The workhorse Falcon 9 has carried out 91 SpaceX missions, followed by five launches for the powerful Falcon Heavy. Two more launches are test flights of the launch vehicle, which in the future should be sent to the Moon and Mars. This is Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket system of all time.
Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are equipped with reusable first stages, a major breakthrough in spaceflight. But Starship, which stands 122 meters tall when fully assembled, is designed in such a way that it is completely reusable. Starship’s huge super-heavy rocket booster must land directly on the launch pad.
Two Starship test flights took place from SpaceX’s South Texas base in April and November last year, respectively. The April voyage did not last long. Starship suffered several serious problems, including the failure of its two legs to separate, and SpaceX intentionally destroyed the ship four minutes after liftoff.
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On the second flight, all 33 Raptor Super Heavy engines fired as planned and the booster successfully separated from the upper stage. But that mission also ended early, with the top of the system exploding about eight minutes into the flight.
SpaceX plans to launch a third Starship once it receives a license from the US Federal Aviation Administration.
NASA has selected Starship as the first crewed lander for its Artemis program. The plan calls for Starship to carry astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time during the Artemis 3 mission, scheduled to launch in late 2025 or 2026.
