Starlink v1.0 7-1/60

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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:

• SpaceX carried out the 8th Starlink launch on Jun 4, 2020. The Falcon 9 first stage landed on the droneship Just Read The Instructions; the second stage deployed 60 Starlinks in orbit.
• One of them (Starlink 1436) is VisorSat, with an experimental deployable cover for the nadir antennae.
• Starlink 1405 moved up from 355 km August 2, 2020 halting at 390 km August 11 to 14 and reaching 560 km 2020 September 8. Starlink 1395 and 1408 reached operational 550 km orbit August 10. Remainder of second batch including Starlink 1393, 1394 and 1436 reached operational orbit August 14 to 16. Starlink 1438 is moving up and down between 310 and 350 km. Starlink 1439 began moving up from 380 km August 30, 2020.

External links:

• SPACE-X: Satellite Information
• SPACE-X: Starlink mission
• Wikipedia: Starlink mission
• Satellite tracking (n2ya.com): Real time satellite tracking