Questions tagged [starlink]
Questions about Starlink, the satellite constellation developed by SpaceX to provide global broadband Internet
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How big does a LEO relay satellite optical communication package need to be to support cislunar operations?
One of the things to come out of Artemis 1 was that NASA’s Deep Space Network was very overworked supporting Orion and eight cubesats + normal operations and maintenance. This led to some slightly ...
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Are the things I'm seeing satellites?
I have seen objects that look like satellites, but there are many of them, and they move in one direction in a straight line. Can someone help me to understand what they are?
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How are starlink satellites deployed?
I'm not a science guy, but I did some research and I gathered that the rocket's upper stage spins before releasing the satellites stack in such a way that each satellite is given a slightly different ...
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Does SpaceX expect 1 collision involving one of their Starlink satellites every 2 years?
I read on https://gizmodo.com/spacex-starlink-satellites-dodge-137-objects-daily-1850616506
by Passant Rabie:
A new report revealed that Starlink satellites had to make 25,000 collision avoidance ...
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How does the current or future network latency of SpaceX Starlink compare to wired internet?
When reading about SpaceX Starlink, high frequency stock traders are mentioned as a potentially lucrative customers, this is because satellite to satellite communications don't have glass between them ...
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Something doesn't add up when calculating thrust for Starlink satellites
Considering the answer of user Mark Adler here, to calculate how much ΔV is needed to raise orbit we can simply approximate it as the change in orbital velocity.
Starlink satellites seem to be ...
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What is the reason Starlink satellites took 4 days to re-enter during the accident on February 2022?
I am reviewing the incident that knocked out 39 Starlink satellites earlier this year.
As I explain in this thread, there was a modest magnetic storm on the 3rd of February, which increased ...
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How can I derive Starlink specs looking at the incident of February 2022?
I am trying to calculate and speculate the specifications of Starlink satellites (mainly related to propulsion) based on the accident on the 3rd of February 2022. There are multiple sources that ...
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Lifetime of Krypton thruster without shielding compared to Xenon - Starlink Satellites
It is argued here (by the user uhoh) that Krypton might have a higher erosion rate on the thruster compared to Xenon. However, here is mentioned that the lifetime of Krypton-fueled thrusters might ...
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How will Starlink 2.0 fit on a Falcon 9?
According to nextspaceflight.com the last Starlink flight of 2022 (possibly delaying into Jan 2023) is group 5-1 and is flying some kind of Starlink 2.0 payloads.
It was understood that Starlink 2.0's ...
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What did I see in the SpaceX Starlink launch stream 12/17/2022
I was wondering. I just watched the Starlink launch from 12/17/2022 (Starlink Group 4-37).
At about +3:53 into the launch, on the first stage re-entry, there was a weird anomaly, which kinda looked ...
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Elevation angle for a non-GEO satellite
I want to calculate the elevation angle of a Non-GEO satellite with respect to a ground terminal. The information I have to solve this:
Instantaneous Longitude, Latitude, and Altitude of the non-GEO ...
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Can the Tirada-2S satellite communications electronic jamming system be used to jam the Starlink network?
In this October ~7, 2022 Reddit post, I'm reading some conflicting information on whether the Tirada-2S satellite communications electronic jamming system can be used to jam the Starlink network:
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Why doesn’t SpaceX use Falcon Heavy to launch Starlink satellites?
In this chart that I found here (https://i.stack.imgur.com/f8wOR.jpg)
It shows that the price of 1 kg to LEO is cheaper on the Falcon Heavy than the Falcon 9. Also the Falcon Heavy can carry more ...
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Why will Starlink Gen2 be so big and heavy?
Apparently, the mass of a Gen2 Starlink satellite will be around 1 metric ton. It will also be too large to fit into a Falcon 9 fairing.
Given that it's basically still a "flying router", ...
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Weaponizing the Starlink constellation
Starlink aims at having tens of thousands of satellites in orbit in a few years. At any given point in time there will be a large number of satellites close by any inhabited places, including the ...
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How can I get longitude of ascending node from satellite TLEs with Right Ascension of Ascending Node (RAAN)?
As the title says, the TLEs contains RAAN, from which I want to get the longitude of ascending node, as defined in the STK help file as shown in the figure. Is there an open source tool for python to ...
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Starlink CONSTELLATION cycle time? Not the orbit time for a specific sat but the time to be over the same spot twice
STARLINK constellation, how many hours for the constellation to cycle? IOWs if a sat is overhead this instant how long till that same sat is over this same spot. The time for the constellation to ...
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How long can the SpaceX Starlink satellites survive before they deorbit?
Like most Low Earth Orbits (LEOs), the Starlink satellites will eventually have their orbits decay and burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. How long, on average, will this take? I am assuming that there ...
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Which is the primary spacecraft in a conjunction?
I ask the question in the title because I cannot find a clear answer.
It seems that in collision avoidance, the primary spacecraft is always more accurately known then the secondary. But I think this ...
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Satellites - predominant apparent motion?
Recently, while foolin’ around with Stellarium, and checking out its simulation capabilities, I recorded some satellite activity.
Sped up ~30x, here are about 12 minutes of simulated sky on March 31, ...
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How does "onboard GPS" suggest "escalation speed and severity of a storm caused atmospheric drag to increase up to 50 percent"?
Engadget's says:
A recent batch of SpaceX’s Starlink internet-beaming cubesats met with tragedy on February 3rd when a 49-member cohort of the newly-launched satellites encountered a strong ...
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How might an "imminent Starlink reentry in your area" alerting script work?
The video below Space debris over Puerto Rico (2/7/2022) SAC seems likely to show one or more reentering Starlink satellites from the 40 "Starlost" lost to atmospheric heating due to a ...
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Why didn't SpaceX see that geomagnetic storm coming? Was this a fluke or could this happen more frequently in the future? (R.I.P. 40 lost starlinks)
Ars Technica's SpaceX loses up to 40 satellites to geomagnetic storm after Starlink launch explains that a geomagnetic storm heated Earth's upper atmosphere (circa 200 km) so much that the aerodynamic ...
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How close were Starlink-1095 and Starlink-2305 to the Tiangong Chinese Space Station?
Various news outlets reported on the Chinese government complaining about SpaceX Starlink satellites (#1095 and #2305) getting so close to their Tiangong Space Station that they had to initiate ...
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Do operational Starlink satellites run their ion engines at night on batteries? And if so, do they have hi/low settings?
Discussion below What is the maximum thrust of the Starlink satellites? raise the question of the Starlink communications satellites' power budget and use of their ion thruster in daylight when the ...
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What is the maximum thrust of the Starlink satellites?
As in the title, what is the maximum thrust (in N) that the satellites of the Starlink constellation can achieve? I read that they use Hall-effect thrusters, but I couldn't find a specification of the ...
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Arc length between two satellites [duplicate]
When considering two satellites in the same circular orbit, is it correct to say: The arc length between the satellites is...? Is there a more appropriate term when talking about the curved distance ...
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Distance between two satellites
What is the appropriate term for arc length between satellites moving in the same circular orbit?
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Biggest periscope camera that could fit inside a Starlink satellite; how thick are they?
If all Starlink satellites had phone tier cameras & simple scopes, could images processed by their super-resolution imaging network be competitive? is a cool question and to integrate a reasonable ...
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If all Starlink satellites had phone tier cameras & simple scopes, could images processed by their super-resolution imaging network be competitive?
I was wondering; if all Starlink satellites had high-end cellphone quality cameras modules on simple telescopes, could the resulting images be combined and processed in such a way that a super-...
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Modifying Starlink / Dragon for orbital communication
In this answer @uhoh notes:
The Starlinks currently have three types of internet-related communication:
downwards with customers fixed on the Earth's surface below the satellites (except an ...
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Why does the Crew Dragon seem to rely primarily on a low bandwidth downlink for voice communications?
What are the particular reasons that the Dragon Capsule is not communicating via Starlink, or that it seems that the audio and video downlinks from the Dragon Capsule are on separate streams?
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What is the theoretical smallest size limit for a phased array antenna that can reach LEO?
Now that one provider is operating a phased array ground-to-satellite internet comm system, others will follow. A frequently asked question is "When can we use Starlink with a sat phone?". ...
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How much could a full-blown Starlink constellation contribute to a future Kessler scenario? What would be the worst-case scenario?
Discussions in comments below this answer to What is the biggest satellite constellation in space right now? have touched on risk vs reward and the Kessler Syndrome in the context of full-blown ...
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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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