How will the Starlink Satellites position themselves in space?

When people initially think of the term ‘Space archaeologist or space astronomers,’ they usually think, ‘Oh, it’s a cult or a scientist who uses satellites to look for alien settlements on Mars or in outer space,’ but it is exactly the opposite of what people actually think, but it is explicitly looking for evidence of past human life on planet earth.

It is quite known to the world that there are so many previously unknown sites and structures all over the planet Earth as still there are places yet to be discovered and what we think mostly for satellites us to show these considerable locations and commemorate the fact that we have only found a fraction of land.

“A couple of thousand satellites is nothing. It’s like, hey, here’s a couple of thousand cars on Earth — it’s nothing” as said by Elon Musk, while administering the successful launch of their mega batch of starlink satellites in the circumference of the earth, each and every section and scaling all of the earth in its range.

But with this mega quantity, a very genuine question that comes to everyone’s mind is how these mega batch of Starlink Satellites position themselves in space? A quite fascinating tech schematics with a proper organizational structure we have witnessed in the looming launch of starlinks by SpaceX.

So how are these satellites launched?

Eventually, satellites are administered into space and on their respective orbit by hitching a ride on a rocket or on the spacecraft, where they’re placed inside the cargo bay.

Generally, countries and enormous corporations have their own rocket launch facilities, in order that they can easily send their own satellites into orbit, which makes it quite common to possess satellites that weigh several tons launched safely into space.

In order for a satellite to be launched successfully, the launch rocket must be placed in a vertical position initially and it is one of the most important fundamental step in setting up the satellites launching sequencing.

This enables the rocket to penetrate the densest and deepest layer of the Earth’s atmosphere quickly, which ultimately helps retarding fuel consumption.

Once the rocket is launched, there is a rocket control mechanism utilizing the inertial guidance system to make the important calibrations in order to adjust the nozzle of the rocket.

Using these calculations, the rocket tilts itself within the direction specified by its flight designated plan. Most flight schematics direct the rocket to the east since the world rotates in this direction, giving the rocket an additional boost.

Upon reaching a height of approximately 120 miles, small rockets are fired in order to shift and adjust the vehicle’s position horizontally during its course to the destination. More rockets are fired at this point to detach the satellite from its carrying vehicle.

The extra force or boost that propels the rocket forward will automatically depend on the Earth’s rotational velocity at the designated site of the launch.

Therefore, there is a difference between the propulsion from Cape Canaveral in Florida and the Launch Complex at the Kennedy Space Center.

The favourite location for maximum boost is at the equator, where as mentioned the rotation of the Earth is fastest.

To most people, the small indifference in velocity may seem irrelevant but it can adversely affect the launch. The combined weight of rockets, their payloads and fuel are often extremely heavy.

In order for that much mass to accelerate to a perfect speed, an outsized amount of energy is required – the type of energy that uses fuel.

That is why the situation of the launch, among other factors, is carefully planned and selected before the event itself.

Read: What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Starlink?

Enigma stating the position of Starlinks in the space terrain

Major deployment of the primary mega batch of 1,440 satellites are going to be assigned and designated into 72 orbital planes consisting 20 satellites each, with a moderate lower minimum elevation angle of beams to improve reception ranging at 25° rather than being on 40° of the other two orbital territory.

SpaceX retracted the primary 60 satellites from the constellation in May 2019 submerging into a serious plane of 450 km (280 mi) orbit and are quite expected up to six launches in 2019 at that time, with 720 satellites (12 × 60) for continuous coverage in 2020.

In August 2019, SpaceX expected four more launches in 2019 and a minimum of nine launches in 2020, but since January 2020 expectations had increased to 24 total launches in 2020.

In March 2020, SpaceX reported producing six satellites per day. Starlink satellites also are planned to launch on Starship, an under-development rocket of SpaceX which will launch 400 satellites at a time.

In February 2021, Musk said

“The satellites are traveling on 25 orbital planes clustered between 53° north and south of the equator”

Principles behind the procedure of Positioning any satellite’s

The basic principles that governs the positioning is a what we are going to understand but in a simpler way so that everyone get a hold of the scientific study of the launching.

The orbit of a satellite (say for now during a circular orbit), are going to be in specific inclination to the equator. Each lap will take the same time (give or take), but each time it crosses the equator, the earth has moved around on it’s axis.

So when you look at a plot of a satellite (or e.g. ISS) on a flat Earth map, it’s sort of a series of sine-waves, offset from one another on each orbit. So – once you are checking out a bundle of 60 satellites, you would like to try to two things to them:

  1. Space them out forwards/backwards on an equivalent plane, and
  2. Space them out left-right into different planes relative to the world.

Lets take the first point in consideration – this one is easy. If you adjust the orbit from circular to oval (by a little forward or backward thrust), you add or remove a few seconds to each orbit.

This is what a spacecraft does to catch up with the ISS, for example. If your orbit is say 280km up, then you will be orbiting at approximately 90 minutes.

So if you want to end up on the opposite side of the orbit, you need to add 45 minutes to your orbit, relative to a satellite in a circular orbit. So – add say 1 minute per orbit, and in 45 orbits, you will be.

For (2) – this is harder to understand, but it’s ok. It’s a phenomenon called nodal precession , where a satellite walks into a different plane through the effects of the non-uniform gravity of the Earth, mostly due to the effect that the earth is an oblate spheroid (i.e. it’s slightly fatter at the equator due to tits spin).

The math for this gets complex real quick, but the summary is that different orbital heights cause the satellites to precess at different rates. So by keeping some satellites low and others high, you get to space them out left-to-right.

Also read: What is Elon Musk Starlink project?

One final thing to point out: the inclination to the equator stays pretty much fixed from the point where they were released from the Stage 2. Think here about orbital momentum the same way as a gyroscope spinning fast (or a bicycle wheel, if you have ever tried that).

If you try to change the angle of the spinning, you will feel a strong resistance against you. Same for a satellite. Whilst it’s possible to fire the thrusters at right angles to the direction of flight, this is a super-expensive operations, and would consume multiple times the satellite’s Krypton gas reserves to move the inclination by any appreciable amount. So for these satellites, consider the inclination as fixed.

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