Starlink v1.0 L15-1/60

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Description:

• Starlink is SpaceX′s 4425-satellites low earth orbit constellation to provide broadband Internet access.
• The mass-produced spacecraft carry a communications payload using the Ku and Ka frequency bands. The satellites will employ optical inter-satellite links and phased array beam forming and digital processing technologies.
• The Starlink satellites feature a flat panel design with a single solar panel and have a mass of about 227 kg. The satellites are stacked for launch without the need for an dispenser. As a propulsion system for orbit adjustion and maintenance as well as deorbiting, they use krypton-fueled Hall thrusters. The Startracker navigation system is based on the heritage of Dragon. The satellites are designed autonomously avoid collisions based on uplinked tracking data. At the end of life, the Starlink satellites are to be actively deorbited, leading to reentry. 95% of the material is expected to burn up.
• The first 1584 Starlink satellites are to operate from a 550 km orbit. Later sub-constellations are planned for 1200 km and very low 340 km orbital altitude, bringing the final constellation size to nearly 12000 satellites.
• The initial 75 satellites, called Block v0.9, are prototypes without inter-satellite links and Ka-band antennas. These are to be used for extensive testing of deployment and operation and also of deliberate deorbiting.
• For launch, 60 satellites are stacked on top of each other without the need of a massive deployer. 60 satellite is the maximum possible to fit inside the Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5), although a future enlarged fairing will allow launches of more than 60 satellites per mission.

Mission details:

• The seventh group of 60 Starlink satellites was launched on Apr 22, 2020 from Kennedy Space Center.
  The Falcon 9 first stage landed on the OCISLY droneship and the second stage was deorbited in the Eastern Pacific at the end of the first orbit.

External links:

• Spaceflight Now: SpaceX smashes record with launch of 143 small satellites
• AmericaSpace: 201129-SpaceX Aims for 100th Mission Success, as B1049 Returns to Port.
• AmericaSpace: 201125-Record-Setting 100th Falcon 9 Delivers Starlinks to Orbit.
• SPACE-X: Satellite Information
• SPACE-X: Starlink mission
• Wikipedia: Starlink missions
• Satellite tracking (n2ya.com): Real time satellite tracking