SpaceX Ends Falcon 9 Starlink Flights From Florida to Prioritize Starship
This morning's SpaceX rocket launch from Florida, carrying 29 Starlink satellites, was also a swan song. A VP revealed today that SpaceX is ending all Starlink-related Falcon 9 missions from Florida to instead focus on future flights using the heavy-lift Starship rocket.
The launch marks "the end of an era for these launches on the East Coast," tweeted Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX's VP of Launch. "From here on, Starlink missions out of Florida will fly on Starship."
That said, the company will continue flying Starlink missions using the reliable Falcon 9 rocket, but from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, which has cleared the way for an increase in rocket launches . Other commercial payloads using Falcon 9, including those bound for the International Space Station, are also on schedule to launch from Florida.
Still, Dontchev noted the Florida-based launches have deployed a large portion of the Starlink network, which crossed 11,000 satellites in orbit this month. "In the last seven years, Falcon has flown ~260 Starlink missions from the Cape," he noted. In total, the Falcon 9 has been used for 422 Starlink missions, according to SpaceXNow, a launch tracker.
The company is prioritizing Starship, which can carry a larger payload, including the heavier, more advanced V3 gigabit Starlink satellites. For the first time, SpaceX plans on deploying some V3 satellites into operational orbit during the next Starship test flight. That said, the heavy-lift rocket remains in the testing phases and has yet to complete a full orbit.
Still, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk noted in a tweet this past weekend that it was necessary to pull resources away from the Falcon 9. "Once Starship is flying reliably several times per week, it makes sense to shift super scarce SpaceX engineering and production resources to Starship to get launch rate to several times per day, which means winding down Falcon," he wrote.
Starbase, Louisiana: The Biggest Launch Site on Earth
Dontchev also announced the wind down when SpaceX on Tuesday announced plans to build a major new spaceport along the Louisiana Gulf Coast. "Starbase, Louisiana, will be built to support thousands of Starship flights a year," the company says. Construction is slated to begin next year, with the first Starship flights commencing in 2029.
"Starbase Louisiana will ultimately have over a dozen launch towers, enabling more than 30 Starship flights per day and making it the biggest launch site on Earth!" Musk tweeted .
The Starship flights promise to help SpaceX not only deploy a gigabit Starlink internet system but also a cellular version poised to compete with traditional mobile carriers. In addition, the same Louisiana site looks poised to become a major staging ground for the company's orbital data center plans.
However, SpaceX's decision to phase out the Falcon 9 has sparked concerns that the US and satellite industries will face a critical shortage of rocket flights in the short term. Others also wonder whether SpaceX is jumping the gun, given that Starship remains an unproven vehicle compared to the Falcon 9.
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