Starting this Sunday, a group of ‘stars’ –Satellites – Starlink crossing the sky of Spain, a ‘constellation’ that has been detected by numerous citizens in various parts of the Peninsula.
Starlink is a satellite network developed by spacexcompany founded by Elon Musk, which aims bring internet to every corner of the planet. Starlink’s idea is to place a total of 12,000 satellites in low Earth orbit in a first phase -for which it already has authorization in the US-, of which about 3,500 are already in space, and already operational.
The satellites rise in large groups, usually more than 50 in each launch, and its orbital height is about 550 kilometers. The reason they appear so bright and in a group from time to time – lined up, in fact – is because they coincide with the time of liftoff.
Sun reflection
This happens because when they rise they take a while to reach their final position in orbit and for a few hours they navigate together. The light that we see is the reflection of the sun, when the rays bounce against its structure; that is why we only see them at dusk or just before sunrise.
SpaceX has successfully launched its tenth mission of the year this Sunday – that is, in less than a month and a half, there have already been ten similar missions. The one this Sunday has put into orbit 55 satellites Starlink aboard the falcon 9 rocket.
The launch was carried out from the space station Cape Canaveral, being the Falcon the one in charge of doing it, the safest and only rocket certified to be able to transport humans to the International Space Station.
on other missions
SpaceX has already used this Falcon on six other Starlink missions, plus it will be used on two historic Starlink flights. private astronautsthe first tourist launches.
Related news
Initially, launching satellites into space should not be a problem, although some scientists complain that they hinder the observation of natural stars and that excess space debris can cause problems in the long run.
As, in fact, the entry into the atmosphere of uncontrolled rocket debris, in this case, of Chinese nationality, has already caused problems on several occasions.