SpaceX launched yet another Starlink mission this past Saturday the 10th. Instead of the usual fifty-something satellites, this flight only carried 34 Starlinks and one large rideshare called Blue Walker 3.

Blue Walker 3 is a prototype communication satellite for AST SpaceMobile, which hope to use a constellation of gigantic satellites to deliver 4G or 5G service directly to cell phones without the need for ground stations or cellphone towers. Bluewalker 3 is a prototype and only 64 square meters in area when unfolded; the operational satellites will be even bigger.

Booster 1051 completed its record fourteenth flight with a landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. The Falcon 9 upper stage responsible for delivering the satellites into orbit set a record of its own, igniting five times over the course of the mission to deliver the 35 satellites into two different orbits before sending itself back into the atmosphere over the Pacific. That is the most number of Merlin Vacuum ignitions in a single mission.

More Information

SpaceX mission page

AST SpaceMobile press release