SpaceX Will Begin Starlink Satellite Launches in May

April 17th, 2019

Via: Teslarati:

SpaceX has announced a launch target of May 2019 for the first batch of operational Starlink satellites in a sign that the proposed internet satellite constellation has reached a major milestone, effectively transitioning from pure research and development to serious manufacturing.

R&D will continue as SpaceX Starlink engineers work to implement the true final design of the first several hundred or thousand spacecraft, but a significant amount of the team’s work will now be centered on producing as many Starlink satellites as possible, as quickly as possible. With anywhere from 4400 to nearly 12,000 satellites needed to complete the three major proposed phases of Starlink, SpaceX will have to build and launch more than 2200 satellites in the next five years, averaging 44 high-performance, low-cost spacecraft built and launched every month for the next 60 months.

Posted in Space, Technology | Top Of Page

2 Responses to “SpaceX Will Begin Starlink Satellite Launches in May”

  1. NH says:
    April 18, 2019 at 9:16 am

    Was surprised to learn from the article that each sattelite was nearly 400 kg.

    Here’s another 10,000 –I assume they’re different from Musk’s 12,000. At some point, near earth space gets a bit crowded, especially if you have a collision or two turning each satellite into 10,000 pieces:

    https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/By-2025-constant-satellite-feed-will-aid-targeted-killings-556686

  2. Dennis says:
    April 18, 2019 at 7:03 pm

    @NH
    Like that scene from ‘Gravity’ multiplied many times over. What a show that could be from earth.

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