Starlink v1.0 8-1/60

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US spacecraft nº:

Launch data:

Spacecraft data:

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 9th Starlink launch on Jun 13, 2020 carried only 58 Starlinks. Mounted on top of the Starlinks was an adapter carrying three SkySat satellites for Planet. The first stage landed on droneship Of Course I Still Love You.
• Starlink 1469 began moving down from 380 km August 18, reaching 310 km August 28. Starlink 1473 is moving up and down between 310 and 350 km. Second batch of 19 (Starlink 1391, 1464, 1469, 1476 to 1478, 1484, 1486, 1487, 1493 to 1495, 1499, 1501, 1502, 1508, 1509, 1511 and 1521) began moving up to operational orbit August 21 to 22.

External links:

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