SpaceX's Starship Flight 7 test flight will deploy simulated Starlink satellites for 1st time

[Admin]

SpaceX aims to launch the seventh Starship flight test on Jan. 10. It will mark the first time the company attempts to deploy a payload during the flight.

SpaceX's Starship Flight 7 test flight will deploy simulated Starlink satellites for 1st time : Read more

 

[jan.wolitzky]

"The [Starlink] simulators will be on the same suborbital trajectory as the Starship upper stage, with Ship targeting a splashdown in the Indian Ocean." There is no practical use for suborbital communications satellites. But what application does use suborbital re-entry vehicles? Hmmm. . . . Let's see, the world's richest man, taking an increasing role in international politics, flexes his rocket company muscles. Sounds like a James Bond plot, no?

 

[Jim Franklin]

"The [Starlink] simulators will be on the same suborbital trajectory as the Starship upper stage, with Ship targeting a splashdown in the Indian Ocean." There is no practical use for suborbital communications satellites. But what application does use suborbital re-entry vehicles? Hmmm. . . . Let's see, the world's richest man, taking an increasing role in international politics, flexes his rocket company muscles. Sounds like a James Bond plot, no?

Its about mass, the simulated payload will likely be the shell of a starling filled with an inert material to simulate the actual mass of a fully operational satellite. This is connected to fuel load, maneuvering in orbit and other factors they need to verify before actually using the rocket to launch real hardware.

I would imagine that they may use STF-8 as a real orbital launch and put real satellites into orbit if this goes successfully.