Starlink satellites into orbit
SpaceX has been trying to get its twelfth batch of starlink satellites into orbit for a while now. The previous attempts were met with problems like thick clouds over the launch site at the Kennedy Space Centre. The other deterrent was ground system issues which delayed the launch. On Monday another delay was evident as there was poor weather.
The fourth time proved the charm for SpaceX on Tuesday morning, as the company’s Falcon 9 rocket got its payload of 60 Starlink satellites off the pad and into space shortly after the Sun rose over the Florida coast.
The Success
But the fourth time proved the charm for SpaceX on Tuesday morning, as the company’s Falcon 9 rocket got its payload of 60 Starlink satellites off the pad and into space shortly after the Sun rose over the Florida coast.
With this launch, SpaceX has now launched 775 Starlink satellites, counting two prototypes launched in early 2018. However, 47 of those satellites have since reentered, either through deliberate maneuvers or natural decay, according to data maintained by astronomer and spaceflight analyst Jonathan McDowell.
Deorbiting
The bulk of those deorbited satellites are from the initial group of 60 “v0.9” Starlink satellites launched in May 2019. Through October 4th ,39 of those satellites have deorbited, all but two of which since early August. The rate of deorbiting picked up in late August, with 32 satellites deorbiting since Aug. 29.
SpaceX has not publicly disclosed why it is deorbiting the v0.9 Starlink satellites. The company said in January it would carry out a “controlled de-orbit of several first iteration Starlink satellites”, citing improvements in the communications payload in subsequent Starlink satellites.
Critics of Starlink, though, have claimed the deorbiting satellites are evidence of reliability problems. This criticism has been there for a while since 2017. Filing of a case by a company Viasat to the Federal Communications Commission took place. Viasat claimed that Starlink satellites had an in-orbit failure rate of 7%, far higher than SpaceX’s claims of a failure rate of less than 1%.
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