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.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

The suborbital flights will probably continue until SpaceX has demonstrated a number of things with StarShip, including restarting the engines while in zero G, and getting the parts that need to be caught by the "chopsticks" to apparently survive the reentry in good structural condition. Then they can put it into orbit and be confident that they can deorbit to land at Boca Chica, with some hope of being able to catch it intact instead of "landing" it in the Gulf of Mexico.