LHA map for #Starlink Group 5-1 from CCSFS SLC-40 NET 28 Dec 09:45 UTC, altern.29 Dec to 03 Jan. B1062.11 planned landing with estimated fairing recovery ~660km downrange. Dogleg to final inclination 43° according S2 debris reentry area south of Cape Town. bit.do/LHA22
202202Z DEC 22HYDROLANT 3288/22(57,61).EASTERN SOUTH ATLANTIC.SOUTHWESTERN INDIAN OCEAN.DNC 01, DNC 02.1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, SPACE DEBRIS 0850Z TO 1355Z DAILY 28 DEC THRU 03 JAN 23. IN AREA BOUND BY 35-48.00S 055-48.00E, 33-51.00S 055-30.00E, 42-00.00S 007-17.00E, 43-57.00S 007-38.00E.2. CANCEL THIS MSG 031455Z JAN 23.
202202Z DEC 22HYDROPAC 3673/22(57,61).EASTERN SOUTH ATLANTIC.SOUTHWESTERN INDIAN OCEAN.DNC 01, DNC 02.1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, SPACE DEBRIS 0850Z TO 1355Z DAILY 28 DEC THRU 03 JAN 23. IN AREA BOUND BY 35-48.00S 055-48.00E, 33-51.00S 055-30.00E, 42-00.00S 007-17.00E, 43-57.00S 007-38.00E.2. CANCEL THIS MSG 031455Z JAN 23.
Departure! A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship departed Port Canaveral last night to support Starlink 5-1 NET Dec 28th. Tug Crosby Skipper is towing.
https://twitter.com/raul74cz/status/1606452899676131331QuoteLHA map for #Starlink Group 5-1 from CCSFS SLC-40 NET 28 Dec 09:45 UTC, altern.29 Dec to 03 Jan. B1062.11 planned landing with estimated fairing recovery ~660km downrange. Dogleg to final inclination 43° according S2 debris reentry area south of Cape Town. bit.do/LHA22
These two NGA Space Debris notices (the same notice for two different Navigational Areas) arrived overnight. They appear to be for this launch. The notices are dated December 20 but the emails are dated December 24.
Doug departed Port Canaveral around 1am this morning to support Starlink 5-1
Looks like they're just regular v1.5 sats, except they're being launched to the new V2 orbital shell.
This is a very odd situation lol.1) Starlink 5-1 is headed to an inclination of 43º. It's carrying 54 satellites, which rules out all known V2 variants, while the same inclination rules out V1.5 satellites for the V1 constellation. Only Starlink V2 has a shell at 43º.
SpaceX's last Starlink launch of 2022 is a bit of a mystery https://teslarati.com/spacex-last-starlink-launch-2022-mystery/ by @13ericralph31
The G5-1 name SpaceX uses makes no sense. Only one Starlink constellation has five approved shells, and V1 shell #5 is at 97.6º.[/SpaceX does not have permission to launch or operate V1.x satellites at 43º. SpaceX has never mentioned V1.x-sized V2 sats to the FCC.
Musk has explicitly stated that smaller V1 satellites + F9 launches make Starlink "financially weak" and could cause SpaceX to go bankrupt. Even if SpaceX had mentioned them a single time to the FCC, V1-sized V2 satellites would not make much sense as a result.
The only explanation I can think of that isn't fully insane is that Starlink 5-1 is a batch of V1.5-sized satellites reminiscent of V0.9 that are meant to test some limited parts of the V2 design before full-scale launches.
Still doesn't make much sense with no mention at all in FCC correspondences. And 54 one-off prototypes sounds like a very expensive way to test V2 hardware in a way that wouldn't even necessarily enable the 1:1 qualification of most full-size components.
The G5-1 name SpaceX uses makes no sense. Only one Starlink constellation has five approved shells, and V1 shell #5 is at 97.6º. SpaceX does not have permission to launch or operate V1.x satellites at 43º. SpaceX has never mentioned V1.x-sized V2 sats to the FCC.
Actually it has, but it implied only a single satellite. It described a Gen2 sat called F9-1 to be launched on Falcon 9 and with the mass and dimensions of the V1 sats.
This was in an FCC filing about Gen2 earlier in 2022. I see two possibilities: - there are actually a whole batch of F9-1 style Gen2 sats and the filing was misleading (not for the first time0- There are 53 V1.5 sats and 1 V2/F9-1 sat on the launch.
Oh wow, I missed that tidbit! Big ask but do you happen to know which filing? Does seem like the likeliest option now, though there are still some holes - namely 53 V1.5 sats in orbits the V1 constellation is not permitted to use.
I'm not 100% clear on those rules, though. I've always gotten the impression that they're fairly rigid. i.e. V1.5 sats are approved for use in the Gen1 constellation, but I don't think that means SpaceX can automatically launch & use V1.5 sats to Gen2 inclinations.
Logically, V1.5 sats are much smaller and pose a smaller debris threat than V2 sats, but I also don't get the feeling that "seems like it would be fine" would convince the FCC when its partial Gen2 grant makes no mention (that I saw) of V1-sized V2s.
Ok you are totally correct! I did not read closely enough and the Oct 2022 filing with supplemental info did indicate that there are THREE Gen2 variants, one of which sounds identical to V1.5 w/ a mass of 303 kg.
Credit to Jonathan for the correction, I was sorely mistaken! There is indeed a third "V2" variant that sounds an awful lot like a rebadged V1.5 satellite.https://licensing.fcc.gov/myibfs/welcome.do
The 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.
