"After one of its Starlink satellites exploded and another narrowly avoided colliding with a Chinese satellite, SpaceX says it will lower the orbit of thousands of Starlink satellites to increase safety. Of the over 9,000 Starlink satellites currently operating in low Earth orbit, SpaceX says it'll lower about 4,400 from 550km above the Earth's surface to about 480km in the months ahead."
"This ensures the satellites deorbit faster when something goes wrong or when they reach end of life, and also reduces the likelihood of collision since "the number of debris objects and planned satellite constellations is significantly lower below 500km," wrote Michael Nicolls, VP of Starlink Engineering. By the end of this decade, there could be as many as 70,000 satellites operating in low Earth orbit"
One Starlink satellite exploded and another nearly collided with a Chinese satellite. SpaceX will lower about 4,400 Starlink satellites from roughly 550 km to about 480 km in the months ahead. Lowering the orbit will make satellites deorbit faster at end of life or after failures and will reduce collision likelihood because the number of debris objects and planned constellations is significantly lower below 500 km. By the end of the decade, up to 70,000 satellites could operate in low Earth orbit if current deployment targets are met. SpaceX conducted over 160 Falcon 9 missions in 2025 and serves 9.25 million customers.
Read at The Verge
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]