Elon Musk‘s SpaceX on Friday said that the company couldn’t deploy Starlink satellites in its intended orbit on Thursday owing to an issue with the Falcon 9 rocket’s second-stage engine.
What Happened: The Starlink satellites were subsequently deployed into a lower-than-intended orbit, the company said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The company is unaware of the reasons for the engine issue and is reviewing data to understand the root cause, SpaceX CEO Musk said.
The Falcon 9 was carrying 20 Starlink satellites. SpaceX has made contact with five of them so far and is attempting to raise their orbits using their ion thrusters, the company said.
“We're updating satellite software to run the ion thrusters at their equivalent of warp 9,” Musk said while adding that it will probably not work, unlike fiction.
“Unlike a Star Trek episode, this will probably not work, but it's worth a shot. The satellite thrusters need to raise orbit faster than atmospheric drag pulls them down or they burn up,” Musk added, hinting that the satellites will likely burn up in space.
Why It Matters: Starlink is the satellite internet segment of Musk’s SpaceX. The company intends to provide global connectivity using a Starlink satellite network in Earth’s low-Earth orbit.
The segment achieved a breakeven cash flow in November.
According to a study by astronomer Jonathan McDowell, SpaceX has launched over 6,700 Starlink satellites to date, of which over 5,800 are in operating orbit.
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