SpaceX Launches 10,000th Starlink Satellite (space.com) 42
SpaceX surpassed the 10,000-satellite milestone for its Starlink constellation after two Falcon 9 launches on Oct. 19 added 56 more satellites to orbit. The company now operates about two-thirds of all active satellites worldwide and continues to break reuse records. Space.com reports: A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 Starlink internet satellites lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base today at 3:24 p.m. EDT (1924 GMT; 12:24 p.m. local California time). Those 28 included the 10,000th Starlink spacecraft ever to reach orbit, which a SpaceX employee noted on the company's launch webcast: "From Tintin to 10,000! Go Starlink, go Falcon, go SpaceX!"
It was also the 132nd Falcon 9 liftoff of the year, equaling the mark set by the rocket last year -- and there are still nearly 2.5 months to go in 2025. [...] This launch was the second of the day for SpaceX; less than two hours earlier, another Falcon 9 sent 28 more Starlink satellites up from Florida's Space Coast. That earlier liftoff was the 31st for that Falcon 9's first stage, setting a new reuse record.
It was also the 132nd Falcon 9 liftoff of the year, equaling the mark set by the rocket last year -- and there are still nearly 2.5 months to go in 2025. [...] This launch was the second of the day for SpaceX; less than two hours earlier, another Falcon 9 sent 28 more Starlink satellites up from Florida's Space Coast. That earlier liftoff was the 31st for that Falcon 9's first stage, setting a new reuse record.
Bring on 66666 (Score:1)
And this just days after the unique numbers assigned to objects in orbit passed 66000.
I think this Starlink launch will put us past 66100, actually.
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I imagine they're shooting for 69420.
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Here's to 5,318,008
Space junk (Score:1, Insightful)
Pollution is what the US does to the world.
Re:I don't disagree but... (Score:5, Informative)
People have been complaining since 2018.
It might be fine, but it might not - we don't know. We don't know the exact composition of the satellites, but based on what is likely it seems that there could be significant environmental effects, e.g. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.... [wiley.com]
At best we need to do more research in this area: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/... [pnas.org]
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If we knew what was in the satellites and had a well funded study, we could get a pretty good idea of the consequences.
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What are they going to do with your study? Burn one up and make guesses about what the results mean. Or we could just observe what happens, because it is happening.
One might also just remember that these things are very small, and the earth is very, very big. It's like throwing a thousand grains of sand at the Great Pyramid.
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Check the link I posted. I'll quote the first line for you:
"Measurements show that about 10% of the aerosol particles in the stratosphere contain aluminum and other metals that originated from the âoeburn-upâ of satellites and rocket stages during reentry."
That was published in 2023 so I would expect that percentage to be rising due to all the new Starlink satellites, followed by other mega constellations.
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Re:I don't disagree but... (Score:4, Informative)
That's the issue, when they burn up it's like burning any other rubbish, only in the upper atmosphere. Like aviation emissions, which are worse due to the altitude they happen at.
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Re:I don't disagree but... (Score:5, Informative)
They got permission in 2018 for this and now you're complaining?
The fuck are you talking about? The people complaining have literally been complaining from the moment that permission was requested.
Interesting timing, considering how liberals are turning on him since the election
Oh get the fuck out of here with this revisionist political biased bullshit.
Did you complain when some random company got permission to put up 48,000 satellites, at the same time that Musk got permission to launch 30,000? https://tech.slashdot.org/stor [slashdot.org]... [slashdot.org]
Yes. YES WE DID. Read the comments from your own link. It's literally full of the same complaints.
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Not sure what you're talking about? There's nothing political in my comment, and the one reference I made in my post is there for you to click on. Oh are you only capable of ad-hominem attacks? No wonder you don't know how moderation works. Here on Slashdot we try to speak like adults, so feel free to attack the content of the post rather than reference something else I made somewhere.
If you think Starlink hasn't been criticised about the size of the proposed constellation from the get go then please return
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Re:I don't disagree but... (Score:4, Informative)
Do you really think the worlds richest man has a true desire to make the government more efficient? He can't ever be president so he did the next best thing and bought himself one. It was worth every penny for all the government databases he pilfered data from. https://www.brookings.edu/arti... [brookings.edu]
DOGE was a complete sham and grok is telling me their numbers purport to be $1329 per taxpayer. I'm going to hold my breath on my federal taxes being $1329 lower next year.
Re:I don't disagree but... (Score:5, Insightful)
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I noticed that liberal wingnuts started turning on him years ago, when his various utterances began to fail to follow the proper script. I notice that the conservative wingnuts have begun turning on him now, for the same reason.
Re:I don't disagree but... (Score:4, Insightful)
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You have a better chance of winning the lottery twice in one week while simultaneously being eaten by an alligator that's being eaten by a giant python that's getting struck by lightning.
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Falling As Fast As They're Sent Up (Score:2)
They've been falling from space at a rate of as many as 5 per day, according to recent reports.
https://www.popularmechanics.c... [popularmechanics.com]
The old ones are..Re: Falling As Fast As They're S (Score:5, Informative)
Mostly it's by design. They have an operating life of 5 - 7 years depending on generation and orbit. The Gen1s or in the shorter side of that, and the lower orbits have more drag and come down sooner. More than 1300 have been deorbitted.
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So a dozen countries are going to just seed the upper atmosphere with every space-grade lead-solder telecommunications trinket by design and pretend that won’t ever have any ill effect besides Kessler?
Besides Kessler? These satellites cannot cause Kessler Syndrome precisely because they deorbit. There may be ill effects of burning a few hundred tons of material in the upper atmosphere every year, we'll have to see, but Kessler Syndrome is definitely not an issue.
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They've been falling from space at a rate of as many as 5 per day, according to recent reports.
Operational design works out to 5.479 per day, peaking at the 5 year mark when reaching 10k satellites.
The reason you're seeing the vastly better "less than 5" number is due to being roughly 2 years behind.
There was a year delay waiting on ground station permits, then another year where they only launched prototypes which they steered back into the atmosphere under their own power in order to burn up.
2027 should be when you see the expected number of 5-6 per day falling back to earth.
That's when it will be
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Yes this means that hopefully the situation won't get much worse, but now SpaceX isn't the only player in town, and everyone else wants to yeet their own 10000 strong constellation into LEO.
Kessler Syndrome (Score:4, Funny)
When I was a child: Rare to see a satellite pass overhead.
Early adulthood: Plenty of satellites and space junk to see.
Middle age: Rare to see a satellite that isn't Starlink.
Late life: Lucky to die of something other than being hit by space junk?
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When I was a child: Rare to see a satellite pass overhead.
Early adulthood: Plenty of satellites and space junk to see.
Middle age: Rare to see a satellite that isn't Starlink.
Late life: Lucky to die of something other than being hit by space junk?
The subject of your post is Kessler Syndrome, but Kessler Syndrome is definitely not a concern with these LEO constellations. Anything not regularly reboosted at these altitudes quickly deorbits because they're flying within the outer edges of the atmosphere. Kessler Syndrome is a potential problem at higher orbits where stuff in orbit tends to stay in orbit for a very long time, making accumulation problematic.
As for being hit by falling space junk, It's super rare for stuff that has reached orbit to h
IMPRESSIVE!!!! (Score:2)
I recall when Musk was saying they were expecting to get perhaps 10 launches out of the first stages.. Now this one did its 31st launch?? DAMNED impressive...
if this was... (Score:2)
If this was a Clive Cussler novel, the satellites will have lasers in them under the guise of providing internet access. The bad guys would use them to take total control of all the governments.