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SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to kick off busy month of launches with 10th Starlink mission
A Falcon 9 rocket is set to kick off a busy July of launches with SpaceX’s tenth Starlink satellite mission and second Starlink rideshare, while also (hopefully) solidifying Falcon 9 reusability.
For Falcon 9 booster B1051, the Starlink V1 L9 mission will be its fifth launch, making it the third SpaceX rocket to fly on five separate orbital-class missions. If B1051 manages to successfully land aboard drone ship of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) some 630 km (~390 mi) off the coast of Florida, it will also become the second Falcon 9 booster to launch and land five times in a row.
Starlink-9 is just one of four separate launches SpaceX has scheduled this month, following a ~10-day delay that prevented June 2020 from becoming the company’s first four-launch month. The mission will also be the eighth Starlink launch this year, potentially leaving SpaceX 40% of the way to a 20-launch annual target roughly 52% of the way through the year.
If successful, Falcon 9 B1051’s fifth launch and landing will make the booster just one of two to have accomplished the feat and survived after Falcon 9 B1049 completed its fifth launch on June 3rd, 2020. Back on March 14th, Falcon 9 booster B1048 technically became the first SpaceX rocket to successfully complete five orbital-class launches, although an extremely rare in-flight engine failure came close to prematurely ending the mission and fully precluded a successful landing.
SpaceX returned to flight barely one month later when Falcon 9 booster B1051 launched for the fourth time in support of the Starlink-6 mission, a strong sign that B1048’s engine failure was indeed caused by a mistake during refurbishment and not a design flaw. Since then, SpaceX has completed five missions, passing milestones like Crew Dragon’s inaugural NASA astronaut launch and Falcon 9’s first landing after an operational satellite launch for the US military.
Starlink-9 isn’t quite as groundbreaking but it still pushes SpaceX’s Starlink launches into the double-digits just 14 months after they began. Excluding the first Starlink v0.9 satellites SpaceX launched in May 2019, the company will have technically completed nine Starlink v1.0 launches in less than eight months if L1 V9 goes off without a hitch later today. All ~530 of those satellites can technically be counted on to one day serve high-quality internet to customers almost anywhere on Earth, while it’s unclear if the ~55 v0.9 satellites still in orbit will ever serve as part of the commercially operational constellation.
Starlink-9 will be SpaceX’s second Starlink rideshare and is set to carry two LeoStella-built BlackSky Earth imaging spacecraft into orbit (literally) on top of 57 Starlink v1.0 internet satellites. While the ~$2M in revenue SpaceX likely generated with the rideshare doesn’t come close to recouping the ~$25M spent on each Starlink launch, the cumulative value of 10-15% savings over dozens or hundreds of launches will be far more substantial than it might seem at first glance.
Regardless, Falcon 9 B1051, 57 Starlink satellites, and two rideshare passengers are scheduled to lift off from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Launch Complex 39A no earlier than (NET) 11:59 am EDT (15:59 UTC) on July 8th. As usual, SpaceX will offer live coverage of the launch beginning around 15 minutes before liftoff.
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Armored Tesla Cybertruck “War Machine” debuts at Defense Expo 2025
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Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
Tesla plans to supply over 100 Megapack units to support a large stationary storage project in Japan, making it one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities.
Tesla’s Megapack grid-scale batteries have been selected to back an energy storage project in Japan, coming as the latest of the company’s continued deployment of the hardware.
As detailed in a report from Nikkei this week, Tesla plans to supply 142 Megapack units to support a 548 MWh storage project in Japan, set to become one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities. The project is being overseen by financial firm Orix, and it will be located at a facility Maibara in central Japan’s Shiga prefecture, and it aims to come online in early 2027.
The deal is just the latest of several Megapack deployments over the past few years, as the company continues to ramp production of the units. Tesla currently produces the Megapack at a facility in Lathrop, California, though the company also recently completed construction on its second so-called “Megafactory” in Shanghai China and is expected to begin production in the coming weeks.
READ MORE ON TESLA MEGAPACKS: Tesla Megapacks help power battery supplier Panasonic’s Kyoto test site
Tesla’s production of the Megapack has been ramping up at the Lathrop facility since initially opening in 2022, and both this site and the Shanghai Megafactory are aiming to eventually reach a volume production of 10,000 Megapack units per year. The company surpassed its 10,000th Megapack unit produced at Lathrop in November.
During Tesla’s Q4 earnings call last week, CEO Elon Musk also said that the company is looking to construct a third Megafactory, though he did not disclose where.
Last year, Tesla Energy also had record deployments of its Megapack and Powerwall home batteries with a total of 31.4 GWh of energy products deployed for a 114-percent increase from 2023.
Other recently deployed or announced Megapack projects include a massive 600 MW/1,600 MWh facility in Melbourne, a 75 MW/300 MWh energy storage site in Belgium, and a 228 MW/912 MWh storage project in Chile, along with many others still.
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.
Tesla highlights the Megapack site replacing Hawaii’s last coal plant
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Elon Musk responds to Ontario canceling $100M Starlink deal amid tariff drama
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said, opens new tab on February 3 that he was “ripping up” his province’s CA$100 million agreement with Starlink in response to the U.S. imposing tariffs on Canadian goods.
Elon Musk company SpaceX is set to lose a $100 million deal with the Canadian province of Ontario following a response to the Trump administration’s decision to apply 25 percent tariffs to the country.
Starlink, a satellite-based internet service launched by the Musk entity SpaceX, will lose a $100 million deal it had with Ontario, Premier Doug Ford announced today.
Starting today and until U.S. tariffs are removed, Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts.
Every year, the Ontario government and its agencies spend $30 billion on procurement, alongside our $200 billion plan to build Ontario. U.S.-based businesses will…
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 3, 2025
Ford said on X today that Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts:
“We’ll be ripping up the province’s contract with Starlink. Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy. Canada didn’t start this fight with the U.S., but you better believe we’re ready to win it.”
It is a blow to the citizens of the province more than anything, as the Starlink internet constellation has provided people in rural areas across the globe stable and reliable access for several years.
Musk responded in simple terms, stating, “Oh well.”
Oh well https://t.co/1jpMu55T6s
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2025
It seems Musk is less than enthused about the fact that Starlink is being eliminated from the province, but it does not seem like all that big of a blow either.
As previously mentioned, this impacts citizens more than Starlink itself, which has established itself as a main player in reliable internet access. Starlink has signed several contracts with various airlines and maritime companies.
It is also expanding to new territories across the globe on an almost daily basis.
With Mexico already working to avoid the tariff situation with the United States, it will be interesting to see if Canada does the same.
The two have shared a pleasant relationship, but President Trump is putting his foot down in terms of what comes across the border, which could impact Americans in the short term.
Armored Tesla Cybertruck “War Machine” debuts at Defense Expo 2025
Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
