On December 15, foreign media Teslaati reported that Musk's SpaceX may launch three Falcon 9 rockets in the next four days, making this year the most launched Year of Falcon 9.
The three launch missions are:
Send another set of laser-connected Starlink satellites into orbit;
Sending a large communications satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO);
For the sixth time this year, the Dragon spacecraft has been sent into space.
The first mission, dubbed Starlink 2-3, could launch as early as the morning of December 17, after which a very busy launch period will begin. SpaceX was scheduled to launch the Starlink 2-3 mission in mid-October, but stopped for unknown reasons a few days before launch.
At the time, a delay of a week or two could conflict with NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) launch mission, which undoubtedly had a higher priority. As a result, SpaceX successfully launched the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission on November 24, and the launch of Starlink 2-3 was postponed until now, most likely between 0:00 and 6:00 a.m. on December 17.
The third Dragon mission, which is probably the most talked about by small partners, will be used for the replenishment of the International Space Station (ISS), the sixth Dragon spacecraft launch of The Falcon 9 this year, which set a SpaceX record. The mission is expected to be SpaceX's 31st and final launch in 2021, breaking its record of 26 launches set last year.
Launching three Falcon 9 launch vehicles in four days, SpaceX is setting a record, seemingly thriving, but in fact, there are many hidden crises, and the "Raptor" engine is a major crisis for SpaceX. The Raptor engine is for the Starship spacecraft and a number of other space programs, and Musk is outraged by the difficulty of producing the Raptor engine.
Last month, he wrote in an email to SpaceX employees: "The production crisis for Raptor engines is much more serious than it seemed a few weeks ago. If we don't achieve a starship flight frequency at least once every two weeks next year, we will face a serious bankruptcy crisis. ”
Not only do starships need "Raptor", but the mass and volume of the second-generation Starlink satellites have been improved, which also needs to be launched with "Raptor". The status of the engine is too important, if its mass production problem is not solved, it will greatly affect the starship and starlink projects, not only the existing projects may have to pay liquidated damages, but also have a serious impact on the future project undertaking.