SpaceX F9: Starlink v1 Flight 1 : November 11, 2019 - DISCUSSION

[AC in NC]

Under the currently approved plan it kinda looks like they'd fill about every fourth plane of the 24 planes for initial service, then expand it to cover approximately every other plane (v1 sats in 11 planes and v0.9 in one plane?) to cover the rest of CONUS.  I'm not sure how that translates to the newer orbital scheme.

This is very helpful for those of us that don't read (or perhaps even couldn't understand) the filings.  Helps very much with visualizing a mental picture.

My layman's interpretation of the 3 plane split was that it might improve the high-lat coverage for initial service. IDK.

[ZachS09]

Why were B1048's legs removed after it arrived at Port?

Was something preventing the legs from being retracted?

[Mandella]

Why were B1048's legs removed after it arrived at Port?

Was something preventing the legs from being retracted?

I was wondering this myself, and to expand the question a little is there any good speculation on just why retracting the legs is being such a problem? It would "seem" straightforward, but obviously it is not.

[abaddon]

Everyone has had time enough to comment, can we please move on with our lives and get back to the useful discussions and high quality content this site is well known for?

Pretty please?

[Danderman]

Let’s see if I understand this correctly:

The satellites are injected into 280 km orbit. Then, they raise themselves to a 350 km parking orbit. If any phasing is scheduled, the satellites remain at 350 km, otherwise, they transfer soon to a 550 km working altitude.

[ThomasGadd]

Let’s see if I understand this correctly:

The satellites are injected into 280 km orbit. Then, they raise themselves to a 350 km parking orbit. If any phasing is scheduled, the satellites remain at 350 km, otherwise, they transfer soon to a 550 km working altitude.

That's what the FCC docs. say.

[tyrred]

Any idea what these couple of bright spots are on the hull?

2:01 - 2:10 in video

MMOD?

[Lar]

Any idea what these couple of bright spots are on the hull?

2:01 - 2:10 in video

MMOD?

MMOD? highly unlikely. Looks more like partial cleaning. Or an ice chunk that came off taking some dirt with it.

[gongora]

Any idea what these couple of bright spots are on the hull?

2:01 - 2:10 in video

MMOD?

Attachment points on the interior?  There are spots like that all over the booster, and those spots were present before the last flight.

[tyrred]

Any idea what these couple of bright spots are on the hull?

2:01 - 2:10 in video

MMOD?

Attachment points on the interior?  There are spots like that all over the booster, and those spots were present before the last flight.

Thanks. I was probably misdirected by the zoom-in on the video, and didn't watch closely enough to see the similar spots on other areas.

[Semmel]

Just had a phone call from a local radio show asking about lights that were visible over northern Germany today. So, I told them about Starlink which is currently visible about 6am in northern Germany. Especially in the rural areas here, it would be great to have Starlink as fast internet is almost unheard of around here.

[Shanuson]

First tension bar has returned back to Earth in tiny pieces.

Comparing the decayed track to the other 3 bars, I estimate by eye, that the last bar will be returned in 3-4 weeks from now.

[scr00chy]

There was a post about Starlink-1040 possibly being lost. Can anyone tell me if that's still the case?

The latest tweet about the status of this batch from Jonathan McDowell didn't mention anything like that, so I'm guessing the satellite recovered?

[eriblo]

There was a post about Starlink-1040 possibly being lost. Can anyone tell me if that's still the case?

The latest tweet about the status of this batch from Jonathan McDowell didn't mention anything like that, so I'm guessing the satellite recovered?

It seems like its status is unchanged - it is still not included in the data supplied by SpaceX and its altitude is decreasing. You can see it as the slightly lower cyan trace in Jonathans plot while the other plots posted have it labeled separately.

[Wolfram66]

Any idea what these couple of bright spots are on the hull?

2:01 - 2:10 in video

MMOD?

Attachment points on the interior?  There are spots like that all over the booster, and those spots were present before the last flight.

Most likely SpaceX engineering established structural data points to measure wear and tear on booster. Critical joins of subassembly structures, high stress welds and seams, connections to internal structural supports and attachments. Areas showing fatigue, or excessive wear/degradation are addressed on the booster before next launch. CQI team takes the data back to engineering and new boosters coming off the line have these areas strengthened, redesigned or have additional stress/strain telemetry sensors attached to study the phenomenon. Like the checklist you get from service at car dealer technician on how your car is wearing. Or software hotfix being applied when code deficiency  aka bug or “unintended coding feature” is reported

Please return to regularly scheduled STARLINK discussion. ... @Gongora this to general F9 topic of your choice

[Hummy]

There was a post about Starlink-1040 possibly being lost. Can anyone tell me if that's still the case?

The latest tweet about the status of this batch from Jonathan McDowell didn't mention anything like that, so I'm guessing the satellite recovered?

Its orbit is still decaying. On a related note two satellites in the second group are experiencing issues. Total 18 are climbing. 17 in the main group and one extra sent 5 days later.

[Danderman]

So .... what happened?

Did the satellites end up in 3 adjacent planes? What about the failed satellites, how will they be replaced?