Space X satellites as they pass through Milky Way over canola fields near Harden NSW Australia.Last year this image won the first place in #aippawards (Australian Institute of Professional Photographers)
I've heard that starlinks are getting brighter again (instead of dimmer).They no longer have visors, because they might interfere with laser links. As a result, all the newer birds will be brighter.
Quote from: deadman1204 on 10/04/2022 02:03 pmI've heard that starlinks are getting brighter again (instead of dimmer).They no longer have visors, because they might interfere with laser links. As a result, all the newer birds will be brighter.I don't remember visor removal having to do with ISL line of sight blockage, plus the ISL's are located on the edge of the satellite bus with extremely clear line of sight to the left/right/forward/back which are the primary directions of use (not down)
Quote from: deadman1204 on 10/04/2022 02:03 pmI've heard that starlinks are getting brighter again (instead of dimmer).They no longer have visors, because they might interfere with laser links. As a result, all the newer birds will be brighter.Source?
SATELLITE DIMENSIONSThe tables below present information for the current form factors of SpaceX Gen2satellites: two of which will be launched initially on Falcon 9 rockets and one that will be launchedon Starship. For convenience, these satellites are labeled satellites F9-1, F9-2, and Starship,respectively. Note that to better reflect a non-maneuverable satellite in a tumbling deorbit a scalingfactor has been applied to the area-to-mass ratios used with NASA’s Debris Assessment Software(“DAS”). Specifically, a factor of 0.5 has been applied to the two larger satellites and a factor of0.516 has been applied for the smallest one. Following the tables, SpaceX includes sample logsfrom its DAS analyses for each of the current Gen2 form factors.
Launch cadence to support rapid broadband deployment. SpaceX remains committed todeploying its Gen2 constellation as quickly as possible to meet the growing needs of consumersthroughout the country for high-speed, low-latency broadband service. In the previous VoluntarySupplement, SpaceX explained that it plans to launch satellites for its Gen2 constellation beginningwith its three 500-kilometer shells, followed by satellites in the lower-altitude shells.16 Althoughits specific launch cadence is being finalized, SpaceX anticipates launching satellites into the Gen2constellation at a rate of at least once per week during 2023, with a more rapid cadence over time.While the number of satellites per launch will vary depending on the launch vehicle used andwhether any other payloads are involved, SpaceX expects that launches will have approximatelytwenty to sixty satellites on each Falcon 9 launch and approximately fifty to one hundred satellitesinitially on each Starship launch, with a variable number of satellites per launch as Starship andFalcon 9 capabilities develop over time.
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Quote from: OceanCat on 10/05/2022 05:45 am…257 square meters at 90% full factor and 20% efficiency of 1360W/m^2 solar at 1AU is 63kW peak per satellite. 30,000 of those satellites is 1.9GW. They’ll be in shade, say, 40% of the time, so that’s over 1Gigawatt of average power consumption. About 8 square kilometers of surface are of solar panels.This is approximately the scale needed for space-based solar power.
Quote from: groknull on 10/04/2022 08:37 pmQuote from: deadman1204 on 10/04/2022 02:03 pmI've heard that starlinks are getting brighter again (instead of dimmer).They no longer have visors, because they might interfere with laser links. As a result, all the newer birds will be brighter.Source?https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/newest-starlink-satellites-have-gotten-brighter-again/
Quote from: OceanCat on 10/05/2022 05:45 am…257 square meters at 90% full factor and 20% efficiency of 1360W/m^2 solar at 1AU is 63kW peak per satellite. 30,000 of those satellites is 1.9GW. They’ll be in shade, say, 40% of the time, so that’s over 1Gigawatt of average power consumption. About 8 square kilometers of surface are of solar panels.This is approximately the scale needed for space-based solar power. If they can build and launch this constellation for less than $10 billion, that basically means you could build a space based solar power station with comparable cost as new nuclear. (…ground segment cost is a question, of course. And you have much of the energy being used for electric thrusters, not transmission.)
Quote from: deadman1204 on 10/05/2022 01:49 pmQuote from: groknull on 10/04/2022 08:37 pmQuote from: deadman1204 on 10/04/2022 02:03 pmI've heard that starlinks are getting brighter again (instead of dimmer).They no longer have visors, because they might interfere with laser links. As a result, all the newer birds will be brighter.Source?https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/newest-starlink-satellites-have-gotten-brighter-again/0.6 magnitude brighter than visorsats, but still dimmer than original Starlinks.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 10/05/2022 01:53 pmQuote from: deadman1204 on 10/05/2022 01:49 pmQuote from: groknull on 10/04/2022 08:37 pmQuote from: deadman1204 on 10/04/2022 02:03 pmI've heard that starlinks are getting brighter again (instead of dimmer).They no longer have visors, because they might interfere with laser links. As a result, all the newer birds will be brighter.Source?https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/newest-starlink-satellites-have-gotten-brighter-again/0.6 magnitude brighter than visorsats, but still dimmer than original Starlinks.So starlinks are getting brighter again. They will also start getting even brighter with the larger sized ones. This "dimmer than original" covers up the elephant in the room that is always ignored. They are only at the smaller magnitude when they reach final orbit. However, there are always hundreds of satellites on their way up to orbit (which takes several months. Starship is gonna change this to possibly thousands). In a couple years, there will also start to be many hundreds (or thousands) constantly on their way DOWN from orbit to be removed as they hit their 5yr lifespan or whatever and are replaced. So while some starlink satellites are at their minimum magnitude, there will always be a large number of satellites that are much brighter. The constellation will never be finished, there will always be many hundreds on their way up or down.