Starlink : On Orbit Satellite Tracking / Maneuvers

[gongora]

For links to other Starlink discussion threads, launch threads, and FCC filings take a look at the Starlink Index Thread

This thread is for keeping track of the movements of Starlink satellites after they have been launched.

[theinternetftw]

This thread is for keeping track of the movements of Starlink satellites after they have been launched.

On that note, here are animated altitude graphs for all 3 launches.  I only started recording TLEs after Starlink-1, so 0.9 starts from there as well.  There's also a Christmas gap in Starlink-1 which I'm pretty sure is someone going on holiday.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

twitter.com/planet4589/status/1220249033442316288

A new visualization of the Starlink constellation showing the orbital plane of each satellite versus time:

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1220249519868301312

The  Y axis here is in a coordinate system rotating at 4.487 degrees/day, the nodal precession rate for a satellite in the nominal 550 km orbit.  Satellites in the operational constellation are therefore horizontal lines in this graph.

twitter.com/planet4589/status/1220249818293063685

Satellites at different orbital heights precess at different rates, thus changing ascending node relative to the 550 km rotating coordinate system.
  The deployment rod debris objects are marked in green.

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1220250244312698880

Here is a zoom in showing that the initial launch are now shifting plane (because their orbits have been lowered a bit) and (at top right) some of the V1.0-L1 sats have reached the op orbit and are now horizontal in the plot

[rsdavis9]

Have any satellites reentered yet? Has anybody seen a reentry?
I think I read that some of the rods have reentered.

[gongora]

I don't think any satellites have deorbited yet.

[envy887]

I don't think any satellites have deorbited yet.

This is correct. Only the 4 tension rods from v1.0 L1 have reentered.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

twitter.com/planet4589/status/1220586848633991170

As expected, the Starlink V1.0-L2 sats launched in January have split into 3 groups of 20. Groups 2 and 3 have paused orbit raising at 350 km to allow their orbital planes to precess, just like 40 of the V1.0-L1 sats did. Group 1 continues orbit raising and is now at 380 km.

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1220587296535257088

Darksat is part of Group 1, which is good since that will be the first group to reach the 550 km operational orbit, in late February

[Hummy]

I hoped SpaceX would indicate to Celestrak which satellites have been abandoned but apparently T.S. Kelso doesn't know that. He removed STARLINK-24 simply because of no updates for about 30 days: https://twitter.com/TSKelso/status/1218746571971493889

My plot of its orbital altitude:

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1221666715777499137

Updated Starlink orbital height vs time diagram, new format with all launches on one plot.  Launch 1 blue, 2 cyan, 3 magenta, with debris objects in green.

[Hummy]

L3 injected 1 km higher than L2. The bottom axis is days since launch (forgot to change the text).

[Hummy]

Surprise. Starlink-52 was one of three v0.9 satellites that wasn't included in Celestrak set of TLEs derived from SpaceX data so I believed it was one of three satellites SpaceX said they lost communications with in June. On Jan 25th it suddenly appeared in the Celestrak set. I plotted space-track.org data and Celestrak data (blue tracks), it's clearly not an error, Starlink-52 is alive and moving:

[envy887]

Surprise. Starlink-52 was one of three v0.9 satellites that wasn't included in Celestrak set of TLEs derived from SpaceX data so I believed it was one of three satellites SpaceX said they lost communications with in June. On Jan 25th it suddenly appeared in the Celestrak set. I plotted space-track.org data and Celestrak data (blue tracks), it's clearly not an error, Starlink-52 is alive and moving:

Did all the v0.9 satellites start coming down at the same time in the last couple days?

[Hummy]

Did all the v0.9 satellites start coming down at the same time in the last couple days?

Nope, only those that are closest to the ISS. From the bottom up:

26 (green): went down then up. Looks like it is aligning itself to be out of phase with the ISS

29 (red): minor movements since the launch. Was always in the Celestrak set, now going down

52 (lime): unexpected revival

four black: recently parked at 450 km, now going down

one black: paused at 450 km for a day, now going down

[Hummy]

V1.0 L3 vs L4:

[FutureSpaceTourist]

twitter.com/starlinkupdates/status/1230869841139130369

Updated deployment graphs

https://twitter.com/starlinkupdates/status/1230869843970265090

All data based on Supplemental TLEs from Celestrak.com

[Rondaz]

It looks like Starlink-46 has reentered. Making it the first Starlink satellite to be intentionally deorbited.

https://twitter.com/StarlinkUpdates/status/1230869841139130369

[FutureSpaceTourist]

twitter.com/planet4589/status/1231330906935382017

Starlink 46, launched as part of the first batch in May 2019, has apparently been used to test Starlink satellite controllability at low altitudes. By Feb 20 it was in a 164 x 184 km orbit and it reportedly reentered late on that day. It is the first Starlink sat to reenter.

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1231331407592488961

[Rondaz]

More graphs

https://twitter.com/StarlinkUpdates/status/1231594632829554688

[Rondaz]

Is Darksat really darker?

On a video taken Saturday at astronomical twilight, it's one of the...brightest Starlinks. At final altitude (550 km) they reach mag 2.5!

We are still waiting for effective albedo reduction measures

https://twitter.com/ThierryLegault/status/1231650886570692608

[192]

https://twitter.com/ThierryLegault/status/1231650886570692608

This tweet is somewhat misleading, Darksat is only expected to be darker in it's operational orbit, not while orbit raising. The "final altitude" comment refers to previously launched Starlink satellites, not Darksat.