Dish may not need to worry about Starlink

[Radioguy41]

It seems they're not holding up to geo-magnetic storms.

Solar geomagnetic storms could threaten more satellites after Elon Musk's Starlink

Spaceweather.com Time Machine

 

[NYDutch]

It seems they're not holding up to geo-magnetic storms.

Solar geomagnetic storms could threaten more satellites after Elon Musk's Starlink

The problem with this group was they were still bunched up in a low orbit where the solar storm caused them to slow down and drop back into the atmosphere. If they had the time to spread out and reach their intended insertion orbit, the storm would not have been much, if any, of an issue. Just an unfortunate timing issue that won't have any significant effect on the Starlink program.

 

[bookworm370]

SpaceX purposefully launches into a low orbit while they do the checkout's and commission the satellites. That way if something doesn't work right, they can just leave it there and it will de-orbit itself in a week or so. After the checkout is complete then they use the electric thrusters to gradually raise the orbit to the intended altitude and also flatten out the apogee and perigee.

The problem with the solar storm (which they knew about as the coronal mass ejection happened days before the launch, but convince Elon to delay) was that the satellites were not only in their purposeful low commissioning orbits but their orbits were elongated and not circular and had a high point (perigee) and a low point (apogee). When the solar storm hit the atmosphere it heated the upper atmosphere causing an expansion. Which, of course, now presented a much higher drag on the orbiting satellites than they were expecting.

The problem was that the big giant vertical solar panel was not fully extended full power was not available. A Catch-22. They couldn't extent the solar panel because it would have presented a higher drag profile and didn't have enough time to spin up the reaction wheels to stabilize the satellites and then use the thrusters to slowly raise the orbits.

So a bit Catch-22. Can't do that because it would cause the satellites to become unstable and tumble uncontrollably. Also space dynamics dictate that you don't burn (thrust) at the lowest point in the orbit or else you will make it even more egg shaped. Counter intuitive but that's the way the physics work.

Again, if they just delayed a few days then no problem. Someone probably got chewed out and considering that it was avoidable, I wonder if their launch insurance would cover a bad decision????

 

[DishSubLA]

The problem with this group was they were still bunched up in a low orbit where the solar storm caused them to slow down and drop back into the atmosphere. If they had the time to spread out and reach their intended insertion orbit, the storm would not have been much, if any, of an issue. Just an unfortunate timing issue that won't have any significant effect on the Starlink program.

But their over one-year hardware delivery to PRE-PAID "customers" and their proprietary cabling on the latest hardware and the new reflector, and, well, broken promises and cumbersome cancellation process for those who have lost faith and almost impossible to move the service to a new address for the "customers" who--as all consumers do--refuse to consider all this a "Beta" service, but expect Alpha service could very well be a significant effect on the Starlink program.

Frankly, Starlink is pollution of the skies for astronomers, and what a WASTE of resources and POLLUTION for the very same generation in favor of this inefficient use of resources that impedes scientific knowledge, who would berate any of us for contributing to the "carbon footprint" for taking an airliner to visit relatives for the Holidays. They wonder if it is "OK" to fly, but are perfectly fine with creating low orbit junkyards.

How about if those children ponder if it is "OK" to use the internet for streaming and game playing (the latter has proven unreliable for such child's play using Starlink) while sending more space junk into space that blocks views of astronomers, not to mention all the numerous chemical bomb blasting to get those critters up there in the first place, and shame on us for flying to see grandma before she passes on. Hypocrites they are!

 

[NYDutch]

Well, it's actually quite easy now to change locations with Starlink as long as there's an open cell at the new location. Several RV'ers have reported a fair amount of success when doing so. Many Starlink subscribers have reported few problems with streaming, gaming, video calls, zoom meetings, etc., with Starlink with speeds in the 100-200 Mbps range.

Professional astronomers seem to be doing pretty well at developing filters to eliminate satellite streaking from their photos from what I've read. Streaking is not a new problem for them.

I don't know what "low orbit junkyards" you're referring to since even inoperable Starlink sats quickly de-orbit and burn up. I wasn't aware that SpaceX was complaining about people flying to see grandma. A Falcon 9 launch generates far less CO2 than the ~1300 transatlantic aircraft flights alone generate daily. The Starship emissions will be even less than the Falcon.

Apparently you wouldn't be happy unless all satellites and space stations were removed from the skies, but sorry, progress doesn't work like that. The Internet is a useful and necessary tool that benefits all of us, and bringing reliable service to the under served parts of the world is a worthy endeavor in my considered opinion.