— SpaceX's Starlink broadband satellites could be used for GPS navigation Sunday's flight continues a very busy 2022 for SpaceX. Today's flight was the 31st Falcon 9 mission this year, already tying the company's 2021 launch tally. Starlink is SpaceX's huge constellation of broadband satellites. The company has launched more than 2,800 Starlink spacecraft to low Earth orbit to date, and many more will likely go up in the not-too-distant future: SpaceX has permission to loft 12,000 Starlink satellites, and it has applied for approval to launch 30,000 additional spacecraft on top of that. Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or on Facebook. Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.