[LINK] itN: 'Solar winds take out Starlink satellites'

[Scott Howard]

They originally had approval to have roughly half their satellites at
~550km and the rest at around double that.

That article is referring to the approval to change those that were
supposed to be at higher altitudes - none of which had yet been launched -
back to ~550km like the rest of them.

  Scott


On Wed, Feb 9, 2022 at 2:04 PM Roger Clarke <Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au>
wrote:

> > On Wed, Feb 9, 2022 at 1:24 PM Roger Clarke <Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
> > <mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au>> wrote:
> >
> >     [ Have there been previous launches into the 550km level, which went
> as
> >     planned?  Was the prompt loss of 40 of a batch of 49 really a
> once-off
> >     bit of bad luck, or an indicator that the environment at that level
> is
> >     simply too hostile for spacecraft to hang around? ]
>
>
> On 10/2/22 8:37 am, Scott Howard wrote:
> > They have just under 2,000 satellites already at/around the 550km level.
>
>
> That was quick.  The FCC 'approval' to start sending things up to that
> level was only in April 2021.
>
> Maybe the report I read wasn't clear enough:
>
> https://www.satellitetoday.com/broadband/2021/04/27/fcc-approves-spacex-request-to-lower-starlinks-altitude/
> > The license modification allows SpaceX to *change the altitude* for
> 2,814 *future* Starlink satellites, from the 1,100-1,300 km range to the
> 540-570 km range
>
> So did they reposition most of those 2,000, rather than sending up a lot
> of payloads to 550m, in the space of only a few months?
>
> I couldn't quickly run to ground (so to speak) the planned life of the
> things.  Maybe it's at least a couple of years.  Which would seem to
> mean they've got a lot of propellant on board.
>
>
> --
> Roger Clarke                            mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
> T: +61 2 6288 6916   http://www.xamax.com.au  http://www.rogerclarke.com
>
> Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
>
> Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law            University of N.S.W.
> Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University
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