Starlink
SpaceX launches fifth batch of Starlink satellites, misses booster landing
SpaceX completed its fifth dedicated Starlink launch Feb. 17, successfully sending 60 satellites into low Earth orbit while missing what would have been the company’s 50th booster recovery.
Starlink vs. the astronomers
Since the first Starlink satellites launched in May, astronomers have complained that those satellites, and potentially other systems to be launched in the next few years, could make it far more difficult for astronomers to conduct observations using ground-based telescopes.
SpaceX launches fourth batch of Starlink satellites, tweaks satellite design
SpaceX completed its second Starlink launch of the month Jan. 29, conforming to a target cadence the company set last year to launch two dedicated Starlink missions monthly throughout 2020.
SpaceX, astronomers working to address brightness of Starlink satellites
SpaceX says it’s committed to working with the astronomy community to address the brightness of its Starlink satellites, but some astronomers remain concerned about the deleterious effect that system and other megaconstellations will have on their field.
Starlink’s busy launch schedule is workable, says 45th Space Wing
The rapid growth in Starlink missions means the 48 launch target could be attained in 2020.
SpaceX becomes operator of world’s largest commercial satellite constellation with Starlink launch
SpaceX launched 60 of its own Starlink broadband satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket Jan. 6, becoming the operator of the world’s largest commercial satellite constellation.
SpaceX’s 2020 ambitions tempered by 2019 outcomes
SpaceX enters 2020 with ambitious launch, spacecraft and other plans, but those expectations are modulated by what that company achieved, and didn’t achieve, in 2019.
SpaceX gets OK to re-space Starlink orbits
The FCC said SpaceX can field satellites in 72 rings around the Earth at 550 kilometers — three times as many as the commission approved in April.
SpaceX working on fix for Starlink satellites so they don’t disrupt astronomy
President and COO Gwynne Shotwell said the problem caught the company by surprise
SpaceX launches second batch of Starlink broadband satellites
SpaceX completed its second launch of 60 Starlink satellites Nov. 11, making its own system the largest commercial telecommunications satellite constellation in orbit.
SpaceX plans to start offering Starlink broadband services in 2020
The goal is to complete six to eight Starlink launches to get sufficient coverage to start offering the service to consumers in 2020.
SpaceX sees U.S. Army as possible customer for Starlink and Starship
Shotwell: “We’re talking to the Army about Starlink and Starship."
SpaceX submits paperwork for 30,000 more Starlink satellites
The FCC, on SpaceX’s behalf, submitted 20 filings to the ITU for 1,500 satellites apiece in various low Earth orbits, an ITU official confirmed Oct. 15 to SpaceNews.
SES, Viasat say FCC’s rural broadband latency requirements unfair to satellites
Satellite operators want to participate in a newly proposed $20.4 billion rural broadband program, but say the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s scoring criteria for signal lag puts them at a disadvantage.
SpaceX plans 24 Starlink launches next year
SpaceX’s Starlink launch cadence will likely average “two a month,” in addition to customer launches, Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, said.
SpaceX says more Starlink orbits will speed service, reduce launch needs
SpaceX is asking federal regulators to allow it to spread out Starlink satellites in more rings around the Earth.
