https://spacenews.com/spacex-adds-fa...k-launch-plan/
TAMPA, Fla. — SpaceX has decided to use a mix of Falcon 9 and Starship rockets to launch the 30,000 satellites in its proposed second-generation Starlink broadband constellation.
Launching some of the satellites with SpaceX’s “tested and dependable Falcon 9” will accelerate the constellation’s deployment to improve Starlink services. SpaceX director of satellite policy David Goldman wrote in an Aug. 19 letter to the Federal Communications Commission.
Goldman did not say when SpaceX could start launching the second-generation constellation, which remains subject to FCC approval….
Elon Musk, SpaceX’s CEO, has said full-sized second-generation Starlinks are seven meters long and weigh about five times more than its first generation at around 1,250 kilograms.
Goldman said SpaceX remains committed to deploying all of its 29,988 proposed second-generation satellites — at altitudes of between 340 and 614 kilometers across nine inclined orbits — whether they are launched with Falcon 9 or Starship.
“Specifically, SpaceX plans to launch satellites for its Gen2 constellation beginning with its three 500-kilometer shells, followed by satellites in its lower-altitude shells,” he said.…
SpaceX has launched more than 3,100 satellites for Starlink’s current generation with Falcon 9, usually in batches of around 50 per mission. According to astronomer and spaceflight analyst Jonathan McDowell,
more than 2,800 are currently working in LEO…..
SpaceX currently has permission to deploy 4,408 satellites in LEO for a network that uses Ku-band spectrum to connect users from around 550 kilometers above the Earth.
A separate FCC authorization also gives SpaceX permission to launch 7,500 V-band satellites, which Starlink’s first generation needs to reach a total of around 12,000 satellites for global services.