More than 200 of SpaceX's Starlink satellites might have burned up in space shows data from a satellite tracking website.
SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet constellation has lost more than two hundred satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) since July, according to data from a satellite tracking website. This is the first time that Starlink has lost a significant number of satellites in a short time period, and these losses are typically influenced by solar flares that cause changes in orbit and damage or destroy the spacecraft. The nature of the satellites, i.e. their model, is unclear, and if they are the newer Starlink satellites that SpaceX regularly launches, then the firm will have to conduct at least nine Falcon 9 launches to make up for the satellites lost.
Since it is a SpaceX subsidiary, Starlink has rapidly built the world's largest LEO satellite internet constellation and the world's largest satellite constellation by rapidly launching them through the Falcon 9 rocket. However, upgrades to the spacecraft and constraints with the Falcon 9 have reduced the number of satellites that the firm can launch, with its latest launches seeing roughly 22 satellites per launch for a nearly one-third reduction over the 60 satellites that SpaceX launched during the early days of the Starlink buildout.
The newer satellites are second-generation spacecraft that SpaceX received the launch authorization from the FCC less than a year back. They are more powerful and are thus larger and heavier than the earlier satellites, which limits the Falcon 9 ability to squeeze large numbers inside a single payload fairing.
Satellites in orbit or space have to face off against various hazards that can damage or put them out of commission. SpaceX faced one such event in February 2022, when a solar flare damaged at least 40 of the recently launched satellites. SpaceX confirmed this and shared that the heat from the solar flare increased atmospheric density and made it impossible for the satellites to maintain their trajectory.
Every time I read anything about starlink, it all just seems so quintessentially American.
You've got effective monopolies of communication infrastructure, which causes everyone to be underserved, and instead of just fixing the monopoly problem, you fire off infinite rockets full of cell towers that burn up in a year
I'm angry at you because I'm about to defend an Elon Musk project... But Starlink is used in many countries. (in)Famously in Ukraine. The idea has merit for anyone living in remote areas (northern Canada, war-torn areas, etc.).
Ukraine is a fantastic example of how bad the whole thing is playing out. Remote areas are always better served by actual infrastructure investment however.
The idea has merit for anyone living in remote areas (northern Canada, war-torn areas, etc.)
I will grant you war torn areas, and remote islands, but rural continental communities are better served with terrestrial infrastructure. Just because someone's willing to fill the sky with space junk as a means of masturbation doesn't mean it's the best solution for public infrastructure.
As much as this is true, this is also a solution that's doesn't have a lot of alternatives for very isolated areas. You can technically run undersea cables to everywhere, but it's actually faster and easier to have LEO satellites serve places like Antarctica. Some smaller island nations, the middle of Africa, etc.
There are problems with every solution, but this was always an inevitable solution for worldwide communication.
I wouldn't say I'm underserved (I live in a tech hub). Overcharged? Definitely.
Rural folks do have a hard time without satellite though, and one thing a lot of Europeans do not viscerally realize about the States is how big the country is, and how much empty space there is.
Even as someone living on the east coast of the US, I'm always surprised when I visit the Midwest and Central US to see just how much "nothing" there is. At least compared to the relative density of driving up and down the northeast corridor
I kinda wish the Capitalism dev team would patch out the ExternalitiesAreHardToTrack cheat code. It's been abused for centuries and yeah, it's hard to fix, but there are quite a lot of upvotes on its bug tracker, and only a few billionaire downvotes.
Okay, so is this actual news, or just reporting on the fact that starlink satellites have a 5 year lifespan by design? Because this reads like the numerous other articles out there that are ignoring the fact that satellites need fuel to stay in low earth orbit, and that fuel eventually runs out.
I dislike musk as much as the next guy, but let’s not pretend this is something it isn’t.
I get your point, but I suspect there's more here than just lifespan. I don't think we know the reason but the article says this:
As a comparison, only 248 satellites had burned up at the start of this year, so the number destroyed during the last two months is higher than the figure for the first seven months of the year.
If 200 over the span of 2 months is "normal" then I have questions about the financial viability of the project.
It kinda depends on what we are considering a starlink satellite. They did launch a batch of satellites that experienced some issues, and some of them did come down. Iirc those were new models that were going up for the first time.
That said, I wouldn’t be too concerned about it. Firstly because we are talking about less than a percentage point of the total, and second because once the bugs are ironed out, a different company that isn’t run by a moron will likely step in to do a better job.
There is sufficient drag in Low Earth Orbit for the crafts to deorbit without station keeping, meaning they burn up in the atmosphere within a few months/years depending on atmospheric conditions.
It's ok, we were already trapped in our planet. There is no planet B..unless you don't mind living in high-tech caves :) on Earth they're called "vaults".
I’m no expert by any means but it seems incredibly wasteful that we build satellites, then expel tons of CO2 into the atmosphere to get them into orbit, only for them to just burn up after a few years.
We can’t even reclaim the material because it literally burns and disintegrates as it’s falling out of orbit.
Big Brainy in chief probaly thought the could cut down on latency if they move the orbits closer to the atmosphere and no one cares enough to correct him.
This just sounds like regular LEO attrition, these satellites are small and "simple" so they were never going to last long (not trying to defend musk here, starlink is full of issues)