At 12:24 a.m. EST on April 1 (0:24 a.m. Beijing time on April 2), the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried out its fourth exclusive single-launch mission, Transporter-4, at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida, sending 40 spacecraft into orbit, including CubeStar, microsatellite, and leather satellite.
In January last year, SpaceX's first carpool special "Transporter-1" mission hit 143 stars, setting a world record for the largest number of satellites carried in a single launch, breaking India's 104 stars for many years. Last June, SpaceX launched its second dedicated small satellite mission, Transporter-2, putting 88 satellites into orbit. In January, SpaceX's third carpool train, Transporter-3, sent 105 spacecraft into the sky at a time.
According to SpaceNews, one reason for the reduction in the number of single launch payloads is that a German space agency's EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program) satellite is too large, weighing 1,000 kilograms at launch, carrying hyperspectral instruments for environmental research.
In addition, Swarm launched 12 small SpaceBEE satellites, each 1/4 the size of a 1U Cube star. Hawkeye 360 launched three satellites to measure radio frequency signals. Indian startup Pixelel, which launches its first satellite aboard Falcon 9 and Pixxel plans to build a hyperspectral imaging satellite constellation, announced a Series A funding of $25 million on March 28.
In response to inflation, SpaceX has raised the price of rocket launches and StarLink services. According to spaceX's official website, the Falcon 9 standard launch price is $67 million, and the Falcon Heavy standard launch is priced at $97 million. The previous launches of The Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy were priced at $62 million and $90 million, respectively.
The price of small satellites has also risen. According to the official website, $1.1 million can now send 200 kilograms of payload to sun-synchronous orbit, and the excess is charged at $5500 per kilogram. The previous launch price of 1 million US dollars can launch 200 kg of payload, and the excess part is calculated at 5000 US dollars per kg.
The launch was the 7th flight and landing of the rocket's first stage booster. After the separation of the first and second stages, the first stage booster landed on the unmanned barge in the Atlantic Ocean "Please see the instruction manual". Prior to the mission, the Falcon 9 First Stage booster flew the manned space missions Crew-1 and Crew-2, sending astronauts to the International Space Station; it also performed the SXM-8 launch mission, the CRS-23 Dragon cargo replenishment mission, the X-ray imaging polarization probe (IXPE) for NASA, and a "starlink" launch.