SpaceX launches missiles with Starlink satellites as if on a treadmill
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In addition to constantly pushing the boundaries of space exploration, SpaceX is investing a significant portion of its resources in the Starlink project. It should soon, with the help of thousands of satellites in orbit, provide an Internet connection even in places where it is still not. And Elona Muska has now announced that it has already been able to test the system with hundreds of satellites in orbit.
The first results sound quite promising. SpaceX talks about a stable download speed of 100 Mbps, which is said to be enough, for example, to stream several high-definition movies at once and still have the remaining capacity. The connection of Starlink should also be characterized by a short response, which should be enough to play fast, multiplayer shooters.
Currently, there are already 715 active Starlink satellites in orbit, and SpaceX is constantly launching new pieces, most often in packs of sixty. The last batch of Thursday was successfully launched into orbit this Thursday, as part of the eleventh mission of the program. As in all recent years, this time the first, reusable stage of the Falcon 9 rocket landed back on the offshore platform.
Visualization of the Starlink internet satellite from SpaceX
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In total, Musk’s company would like to launch up to 42,000 of its devices into orbit in the three altitude bands, with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) already approving the launch of 12,000 of them.
Due to the location of the satellites, SpaceX is currently testing the connection mainly in the northern hemisphere, in the private beta phase – a public beta should follow later this year. Candidates can apply on the space startup website, although leaked information says that for the time being, Musk’s team will focus on tests in North America.
How he pointed out magazine The Verge, in documents for the FCC, the company promised that in the future it will reach download speeds in excess of one gigabit per second. However, it will need a whole constellation of 4,400 satellites. The signal from the satellites can be received using special dishes manufactured by SpaceX. They are similar to those for receiving satellite television, Musk himself called their appearance as “UFO on a pole”.
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This is what the device for receiving a signal from Starlink will look like
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To make Starlink one of the fastest ways to transfer data, it will help not only the number of data, but also the new technologies that SpaceX has tested. Specifically, these are lasers that allow data to be transmitted between individual satellites, not just between Earth and space.
Concerned astronomers
Despite the fact that Starlink is just starting to work, the first consequences of the flood of satellites are already showing. Astronomers have noticed since the end of last year that sunlight is reflected to the Earth from the solar panels of individual satellites.
This creates an effect where photos of astronomers are degraded by long lines of light caused by Starlink satellites. Observing the night sky can thus be fundamentally difficult, as the pictures of the Czech astrophotographer Zdeněk Bardon attached in the tweet below show.
The situation for astronomers with hundreds of other satellites cannot be expected to improve, but SpaceX is already testing ways to darken or rotate satellites so that sunlight is not reflected from its solar panel to Earth.
Yesterday evening (21.04.2020) I captured the images of Atlas comet. The final result is really horrible. The picture (full field) contains too much trajectory of Starlink #Starlink . DSRL D810a, #zeiss ZEISS Otus 1,4/100,sum of 38x120sec,Czech republic #Astrophotography #comets pic.twitter.com/BI2oCJ0BYi
– Zdenek Bardon (@zdenek_bardon) April 22, 2020
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