Questions tagged [starlink]
Questions about Starlink, the satellite constellation developed by SpaceX to provide global broadband Internet
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What orbits are Starlink satellites now deployed into? How low to do they go on their first perigee?
In my answer to Delta-V of Starlink Satellites I ballpark spherical-cow envelope-back estimated 190 m/s with 2 kg of krypton based on raising only from a 445 km circular orbit to a 550 km circular ...
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Which satellite constellations are already operational in LEO (Low Earth Orbit)?
I am researching information on active and operational constellations in LEO (Low Earth Orbit) but from what I can see, many missions are still only planned (e.g. OneWeb, Amazon) and the only one ...
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Are Starlink satellites flaring?
The "Old and Busted" Iridium satellites flared like crazy because they had big flat metal surfaces for their phased array antennas (that were certainly so shiny completely by accident and ...
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Why are some Starlink launches announced as instantaneous and some not?
I have not been able to find information online to chart out the SpaceX Starlink launches to see which have announced instantaneous launch windows and others are not announced as such, leading to my ...
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Why 53º orbits for Starlink?
In the UCS satellite dataset, I see a very modest number of non-Starlink LEO satellites around 53º (see graph below).
Conversely, Starlink satellites are regularly deployed around that inclination.
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What is the time frame for the Starlink satellites to reach their final orbit after deployment from the fairing?
How long does it take for the Starlink satellites to reach their final orbit after deployment?
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Why do AST SpaceMobile satellites have antennas much larger than Starlink, whereas they both aim at providing network coverage anywhere on earth?
I read on cnbc.com (mirror):
AST drew the attention of NASA in October, when the U.S. space agency commented on the company’s FCC proposal and said AST’s “extremely large satellites” would create “an ...
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Did Starlink's experimental Darksat help reduce brightness? [duplicate]
Did Darksat's visor like coverings to its parabolic antennas reduce the brightness or was it a failure.
Or is SpaceX devoleping any other mechanisms or manuveres to counter this problem?
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Main differences between 5G and Starlink? [closed]
I wonder who is better in terms of whole if considered. Speed, latency, reach, accessibility and affordability.
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Portable Starlink antennas
Starlink is slowly starting to spread their wings globally, with a recent beta launched in Canada after their initial launch in the US.
Let's assume I buy the antennae/dish and their service in Canada....
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How much krypton do Starlink satellites carry when they are first deployed?
Starlink satellites use krypton as propellant.
This answer roughly estimates 2.3 kg of Krypton based on a total delta-V of 190 m/s and an exhaust velocity of 20,000 m/s.
But how close is that to ...
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How should we point our SpaceX Starlink ground transceiver antennas?
I don't have one of course, but I see that the Starlink ground transceiver antennas are flat but "pointable" to some extent. I assume but don't know for sure that there's at least some kind ...
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Are there Starlink train-finding websites?
In Astronomy SE Line of lights moving in a straight line, with a few following is the canonical close as duplicate target for questions about the likely seeing of recently deployed Starlinks that move ...
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What are the electrical requirements of the antennas used in Starlink?
My interest is in both the antenna for the ground segment (the "UFO on a stick") and the antennas for the space segment (phased arrays if I'm not mistaken).
I couldn't find around much more ...
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What impact will the deorbiting of thousands of satellites have on the atmosphere?
With the creation of mega satellite constellations like Starlink, there are several thousand satellites being launched each year. This means that as these satellites go out of order in a few years, ...
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How much krypton is stored on a Starlink satellite?
How much krypton (fuel) is there for the krypton-powered ion thrusters on Starlink satellites and how long does it last?
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Once Starlink is fully deployed how many satellites will be visible at any given moment?
So the GPS system has 31 satellites in an orbit of 20,180 km. Most of the time there are at least 3-4 satellites 'visible' (visible from a signal reception point of view) at any given moment.
The ...
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Is Starlink VisorSat really dimmer?
Basically a repeat of Is Starlink 1130 (Darksat) really dimmer? but this time with Visorsat.
What is the observed brightness of VisorSat(s) and is it dimmer than non-Visorsat Starlink satellites?
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How is 'space junk' monitored pre-launches and when picking satellite orbits?
There is a bunch of junk orbiting right outside the atmosphere of the Earth, an issue that gets addressed more and more as space travel develops. How do they monitor the movement of these to avoid so ...
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What about Starlink ground terminals for server farms?
There is some information about the small cheap user ground terminals for the Starlink network.
But there should be also high bandwidth ground terminals for server farms. For a low latency time these ...
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Why does the Falcon 9 launch 60 instead of 100 Starlink satellites at a time?
The Falcon 9 has a capacity of 22,800 kg to LEO.
A Starlink satellite has a mass of 227 kg.
That means that one Falcon 9 can launch 100 satellites.
So why does SpaceX launch 60 instead of 100 ...
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Can the Indian government ask SpaceX to pay for bandwidth usage in its airspace?
Any telecom operator who wants to launch their services in India has to pay billions of USD to the Indian government.
My query is if I'm using SpaceX Starlink based data, can the Indian government ...
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Why is SpaceX deploying Starlink satellites without inter-satellite communication capability?
According to this answer, which cites Wikipedia, the current batch of Starlink satellites that are being deployed don't have the ability to talk to each other. That will come later, according to ...
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Starlink's autonomous collision avoidance
On their website, SpaceX claims that Starlink satellites are able to conduct autonomous collision avoidance manoeuvres using alerts from the US Department of Defence. This seems very reasonable, given ...
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How do Starlink trains spread into separate orbits with equidistant orbital slots?
Starlink satellites are launched in batches of 60. They are released from the launch vehicle, and then have to spread out – not only into equidistant slots along a single orbit ring, but now ...
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Have astronauts seen Starlink trains?
Starlink satellites move in the same altitude region as the ISS (on their way up and eventually back down) and are particularly noticeable for weeks after deployment as "trains".
Have one of these ...
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How did SpaceX's VisorSat work? How did the sunshade articulate to shade parts of Starlink satellite as it orbits the Earth?
CNET's Elon Musk wants SpaceX to launch the next generation of space telescopes says:
The billionaire entrepreneur said that "VisorSat" satellites equipped with a sunshade to block ...
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How to explain the fast motion of the Starlink satellite in this video?
My friend in Łódź sent me this video today:
https://i.imgur.com/EmpNzfs.mp4
This was observed in Widzew district, at 20:42 Warsaw time. He has two questions:
given that it looks like it's Starlink ...
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Do Starlink satellites have cameras?
Obviously, Starlink satellites are equipped with sensors for attitude and location detection (like a star tracker or sun tracker) but I'm wondering if they have with any direct Earth observation ...
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Is Starlink 1130 (Darksat) really dimmer?
I measured a couple of Starlink satellites tonight, finally, Starlink 1130 (Darksat) arrived (March 17th 2020, 20:15 local time). I could not see the sat on the screen although I turned up to gain a ...
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What are the orbits of all Starlink satellites launched?
Latest batch of SpaceX Starlink satellites went into elliptical orbit.
Using all available data (launch times, release times, applications by SpaceX etc), what are the orbits of all current 300 ...
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Satellite communications interference due to Starlink by SpaceX
As of 8th February 2020, SpaceX has launched 242 Starlink satellites.
To what extent will SpaceX's launch of its Starlink satellites affect satellite communications for other satellites?
How much (...
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Do the latest Starlink satellites use inter-satellite laser communications?
Do the latest (as of Jan 30, 2020) Starlink satellites use inter-satellite laser communications?
I can't find any info about that!
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Astrophotographer Thierry Legault is not convinced that DarkSat is darker than the others. Have photometric measurements been reported?
In the video below Passage of 7 Starlink satellites including (supposed) "darksat" world renowned astrophotographer Thierry Legault is not impressed by DarkSat's darkness:
SpaceX said they ...
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Landing legs problem with Falcon 9 Block 5 / Starlink 3 mission
Is this a late landing burn problem? it seems that the engine touch the OCISLY ground as the landing legs flex.
Landing occurs at about T+0:08:20
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Replacement strategies for defective Starlink satellites
I wonder what is the approach to replace let's say: 5 defective Starlink satellites, each one in a different orbit? I guess that it can't be done with just one launch as the krypton ion thrusters ...
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Which of the recently launched Starlink satellites is the coated one?
Does anybody of you experts know which of the recently launched Starlink satellites is the coated one?
We are occasionally measuring their brightness and would like to compare uncoated vs. coated.
...
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What attitudes will Starlink satellites have in different orbits?
update 3: Guest Post: Modelling of Starlink trail brightness and comparison to observations
update 2: Teslarati's SpaceX’s Starlink “VisorSat” launch plans revealed by Elon Musk explains Open Book ...
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What is the mysterious object flying by in this SpaceX video?
In the last second of this video tweeted by spaceX, you can see an object fly by on screen. Did this come from the SpaceX ship, or is it foreign space junk? If it turns out to be the latter, is that a ...
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Has FCC jurisdiction for all the world for SpaceX's Starlink position?
These days, you can read in the news that SpaceX requested FCC for permission to change the orbit of the Starlink satellites already in orbit.
Now... from my understanding, the Starlink satellites ...
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How do the Starlink satellites shine?
As we can see the Starlink satellites with the naked eye as they pass by. I was wondering about what makes them visible.
Do they have large mirrors that reflect the sunlight making them look as if ...
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Space Debris and Megaconstellations: plans for ~1000kms altitude orbits
SpaceX's Starlink and other mega-constellation plans highlight safe de-orbiting features but does this also extend to altitudes higher than 1,000 kms?
My concern is whether these smaller sats will ...
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Why is one Starlink satellite not following the adjacent one in this image?
The following image shows trails of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites as seen in the sky above the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile:
Image Source: SpaceX’s Newly Launched Starlink ...
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Would a vantablack coating on the starlink satellites cause overheating problems? [duplicate]
I'm an amateur astronomer and have recently being hearing space x catching alot of flack for the amount of reflection the satellites would cause. While I believe that program is more important than my ...
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SpaceX's Starlink and astronomy
I was reading articles about Starlink and some concerned astronomers that SpaceX Starlink will lead to more space junk and eventually the death of ground based astronomy. I am just wondering how ...
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What are the bottlenecks stopping SpaceX from launching more frequent batches of Starlink?
If Starlink truly has a large financial potential for SpaceX, how come they are not launching a batch of these satellites every day? What are the bottlenecks?
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Can / should the Starlink satellites be blackened?
So that they are not as visible? I assume the SpaceX engineers have considered this option.
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Possible interference in RF spectrum due to space-based internet
Multiple Commercial Operators plan to use satellite megaconstellations for providing internet coverage in near future.
Is there a possibility of interference between RF spectrum already in use for ...
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Technical feasibility of a country at least partially preventing use of internet from satellite constellations?
The interesting Politics SE question To what extent can a government control satellite internet compared to internet from a local ISP? asks from the perspective of politics and international law, but ...
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Satellite Megaconstellations RF Spectrum usage for free(?)
As per my understanding, for terrestrial usage RF spectrum is auctioned by the governments before telecom operators can avail it for commercial purpose. Seems like a logical way to utilise limited ...
