Although the Starlink network would be under SpaceX’s control instead and comes at a cost: roughly $99 per month for the end user. If successful, the Starlink network could revolutionize access to the internet, upending current systems of control that governments use to censor or block internet access. SpaceX says its Starlink network is already serving 145,000 users across 25 countries, and the company is reportedly in talks to reconnect the island nation of Tonga to the internet, after a massive volcanic eruption last month severed the undersea cables connecting the Pacific islands to the World Wide Web. Together, they will form the infrastructure to back Musk’s plan of delivering high-speed internet to remote regions across the globe. SpaceX has already deployed 1,469 Starlink satellites into orbit and is targeting a grand total of 30,000. Meanwhile, SpaceX disclosed in 2020 that each Falcon 9 launch costs around $30 million, so in total, this abortive operation could have cost SpaceX around $50 million in sunk costs. SpaceX doesn’t disclose the cost of its Starlink satellites, but some analysts have put the cost of each module between $250,000 and $500,000, meaning a fleet of 40 would cost $20 million at most.

On Tuesday the company said “the deorbiting satellites pose zero collision risk with other satellites…and no satellite parts hit the ground.” SpaceX says Starlink satellites are designed to break up and burn upon reentry to Earth’s lower atmosphere, so they never actually return to Earth. With their length of 151.5 meters, the ST-Class vessels have a wider and. Built by FSG in Flensburg, Germany, the RollDock Star and RollDock Storm are modern, high quality vessels having the same loading modes as the S-Class. The approach makes it easier to identify faulty satellites and return them to Earth-so to speak. The ST-Class is the second generation of our dock type semi-submersible multifunctional heavy lift transport vessels.

The two-stage deployment reduces the risk of dysfunctional satellites becoming space junk, which drifts around space. Reuters reports the 40 lost modules mark the largest number of satellites knocked out by a single geomagnetic event ever.Īccording to SpaceX, the company always deploys Starlink satellites at a low orbit first, before directing the modules to increase altitude. “These storms cause the atmosphere to warm and atmospheric density at our low deployment altitudes to increase,” SpaceX said, explaining that the higher atmospheric density increased drag on the orbiting Starlink satellites, preventing them from moving to higher altitudes.

Storming the sky fleet overhazard