SpaceX's Starship has finally orbited Earth. Starship 14 blasted off from Texas on Monday, Sept. 28th, at 7:48 a.m. CDT and reached orbit minutes later. This was a milestone in SpaceX's plans to travel to the Moon and Mars.
Before the first orbit was complete, the rocket deployed 26 V3 Starlink satellites. These two-ton Starlinks are giants, dwarfing their predecessors. They have roughly three times the mass of the V2 Minis that Falcon 9 rockets have been launching for years, with solar arrays that generate twice as much power.
There was one hiccup. One of the ship's engines failed during ascent, and SpaceX decided to bring it home early, splashing down in the northern Pacific about three hours after launch instead of ten.
Only Starship can launch these behemoths. Today's 26 satellites add about 26 terabits per second to the network--roughly ten times the capacity of a single Falcon 9 Starlink launch. Future Starships could carry as many as 60.
Giant Starlinks are hardly good for astronomy. The little ones were already interfering with deep-sky astrophotography and professional research. The big ones could be much worse.
That said, we should be alert for the trains. These big Starlinks could produce spectacular "string of pearls" displays in the evening sky while they are still in low orbit. It will take weeks for these V3s to fade as they ascend to their working orbits.
There was one hiccup. One of the ship's engines failed during ascent, and SpaceX decided to bring it home early, splashing down in the northern Pacific about three hours after launch instead of ten.
Only Starship can launch these behemoths. Today's 26 satellites add about 26 terabits per second to the network--roughly ten times the capacity of a single Falcon 9 Starlink launch. Future Starships could carry as many as 60.
Giant Starlinks are hardly good for astronomy. The little ones were already interfering with deep-sky astrophotography and professional research. The big ones could be much worse.
That said, we should be alert for the trains. These big Starlinks could produce spectacular "string of pearls" displays in the evening sky while they are still in low orbit. It will take weeks for these V3s to fade as they ascend to their working orbits.
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