New Starlink satellites have started falling from space

We published this story on Yahoo en Español on April 5, 2023. We showed it again to our users as it appeared One of the most viewed and commented of our site throughout the year.

Elon Musk’s troubles are increasing. To his disastrous management of Twitter – a company with which he has lost $20 billion so far – and the fact that he is no longer the richest man in the world, a new blow has now been added: his SpaceX’s new Starlink. The satellite company is crashing.

It’s been just over a month since SpaceX launched 21 miniature versions of its next-generation Starlink satellites, but it appears one of those tiny satellites may not be able to stay in orbit much longer.

As reported by Gizmodo, the Starlink satellite designated 30062 will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere off the coast of California at 4:50 a.m. on Monday, according to a tweet from Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard-Smithsonian astrophysicist who monitors Internet satellites. Did it. It is highly likely that the satellite burned up during re-entry.

McDowell noted on Twitter that three Starlink V2 minis were increasing their altitude in attempts to reach their designated operational orbits, while one underwent a controlled deorbit maneuver. Other observers have also been following the V2 Minis since launch, including unofficial SpaceX guide Starlink Insider, which observed the satellite’s deorbit trajectory before its re-entry.

Last month, Starlink Insider was one of the first to notice that the batch of newly launched satellites was slowly falling instead of increasing. In response to speculation about the status of the V2 Mini, SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk clarified on Twitter that the satellites were “experiencing some problems” and that some of them would be deorbited while others would continue testing. The recently highly popular V2 Mini may be the first to arrive, but that’s not known for sure at the moment.

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SpaceX launched 21 next-generation Starlink satellites on Feb. 27 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The company calls these V2 Minis, as they are miniature versions of the next generation of Starlinks. The V2 Minis are intended to help SpaceX increase the capacity of its Internet mega-constellation to cover growing demand for Starlink until the company launches its own batch of full-sized next-generation satellites.

However, to do that, SpaceX needs to see its Starship heavy-lift rocket take to the skies. The Falcon 9 rocket, which is currently operational, is not designed to transport the next generation of satellites, which has prompted SpaceX to create these smaller versions. SpaceX was scheduled to launch a second batch of V2 Minis last month, but it’s unclear where the company stands with its miniature satellites.

This is how Starlink works

Starlink is a satellite internet service being developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The idea of ​​this project is to put thousands of satellites in orbit to bring internet to every corner of the planet, including rural areas with low coverage.

Starlink is managing to bring 175Mbps internet to rural areas, some say it ‘changes the rules of the game forever’

The idea of ​​the Starlink company is to put about 12,000 satellites into orbit, and then you can pay a monthly fee to connect from anywhere with the device you have. The idea is not to compete with fiber or 5G connections, but to complement both offers with their own.

Currently there are other satellite connection companies, which almost always focus on rural environments. And Starlink is also trying to launch there, in an effort to provide service in areas where access to fixed networks is difficult, and where mobile network coverage doesn’t reach as well.

Starlink has a kit that you have to install in your home to receive signals from the satellites, so it is not a network that you will be able to connect to from your mobile, but it is for your home. Nor is it something that will replace a home connection, because with such high latency, it would be impossible to effectively use, for example, online video games.

Therefore, it is a network designed for areas of geography where fiber does not reach, and 5G connections fall short. In these cases you will have the option to choose this other option.

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