Spaceflight 🚀📆 2024 launches 🚀
🇺🇸 #SpaceX 134, others 20
🇨🇳 #China 68
🇷🇺 #Russia 17
🇯🇵 #Japan 7
🇮🇳 #India 5
🇮🇷 #Iran 4
🇪🇺 #Europe 3
🇰🇵 #NorthKorea 1
391 booster #landings so far
https://www.spacex.com/launches
History visualized : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9_first-stage_landing_tests#Landings_of_Falcon_9_first-stage_boosters
How many do you expect in total until the end of 📆 2026 (worldwide, all models) ?
> 600
> 650
> 700
> 800
Poll ended at .
At least seven 7️⃣ new private #rockets, all featuring vertical recovery and #reusability ♻️, are aiming to reach #orbit in 📆 2025 https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3290445/spacex-and-7-dwarves-chinese-space-firms-line-enter-reusable-rocket-race
📊 Commercially operated #rockets were responsible for 70% of global launch attempts in 2024, up 📈 from 65% in 2023 and 55% in 2022 https://payloadspace.com/2024-orbital-launch-attempts-by-country
#Starlink’s subscriber base has grown to nearly 5 million users across 114 countries, representing a 100% increase 📈 in the past year. Starlink is projected to generate $6.6 billion in hardware and subscription revenue in 📆 2024 and reach $3.8 billion EBITDA https://www.forbes.com/sites/garthfriesen/2024/12/03/spacex-350b-valuation-would-make-the-worlds-most-valuable-startup
The #FCC has granted #SpaceX permission to fly 12,000 #Starlink satellites, and the company has filed paperwork with an international regulator to loft up to 30,000 additional spacecraft.
To put that into perspective, as of Nov. 7, 2022, only 14,450 satellites have been launched in all of history with 6,800 currently active according to the #ESA. https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-satellites.html
#Qianfan #Starlink #Geely #Kuiper #OneWeb #Eutelsat https://www.statista.com/chart/33246/satellite-constellation-projects
#Amazon is under time pressure ⏱️. The license issued by the US regulatory authorities for the operation of #satellite internet in 2020 requires half of the satellite network to be completed by 📆 July 2026. The rest must be in orbit by July 2029 ⏳. More than 30 additional launches are planned with other companies, such as #Arianespace and #BlueOrigin. Even the competitor #SpaceX is helping out https://www.heise.de/en/news/Amazon-launches-the-first-internet-satellites-for-Project-Kuiper-next-week-10338214.html
#Amazon is planning to send another 24 #Kuiper satellites 🛰️ into orbit no earlier than August 7, 2025, bringing the total deployed so far to 102 https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/amazon-project-kuiper-starlink-australian-broadband
#Amazon must have half of its planned 3,236 internet #satellites 🛰️ in operation by July 2026. The constellation must then be complete by July 2029. Amazon plans to compete with #Starlink. Against this backdrop, the fact that Amazon has now used a #SpaceX rocket to transport its satellites into space for the second time is not without a certain #irony 😁 https://www.heise.de/en/news/After-weather-related-problems-Amazon-launches-more-Kuiper-satellites-10517685.html
When #Amazon announced its launch procurement in 2022, it notably bypassed SpaceX in favor of #NewGlenn, #Ariane 6 and #ULA’s #Vulcan, even though none of those vehicles had flown at the time. In late 2025, Amazon #Leo added to its already historic purchase of launch capacity by securing 10 additional #Falcon9 launches from #SpaceX https://spacenews.com/amazon-buys-10-more-falcon-9-launches/
"Given the pace at which #Amazon is launching satellites, I can see why they would think it would take other people centuries to launch" https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/fcc-chair-criticizes-slow-pace-amazon-satellite-launches-2026-03-11/
A #MassDriver* is a very long track stretching across the lunar 🌙 surface, angled skyward 🌌 at its far end, which is lined with hundreds of #electromagnetic coils. These fire in a precise sequence. The bucket 📦 never makes mechanical contact with any surface, guided entirely by the interplay of magnetic 🧲 fields, which is why these systems have a theoretical operational lifespan of up to millions of launches with negligible wear https://fastcompany.co.za/co-design/2026-02-24-how-elon-musks-moon-cannon-could-transform-space-travel
Winchell Chung ⚛🚀Apparently lots of Musk fans have never read Heinlein's The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress...
@nyrath what were they supposed to learn from it ?
How a mass driver constructed on the moon was used to bombard Earth cities. The explosions were not nuclear (no radiation) but were of nuclear intensity.
@nyrath similar to using a hammer to either drive in a nail or knock on someone's head ?
More like "Do you think it is a good idea to give Elon Musk the power to rule the world?"