A new report is making the rounds claiming about three percent of the SpaceX Starlink satellites the company has put into orbit have failed. According to the report, that number of satellites has seemingly failed because they are no longer maneuvering in orbit. Each of the satellites is fitted with an ion drive to allow it to maneuver to avoid collisions. The data comes from an astronomer named Jonathan McDowell. He says that failure rate isn’t particularly alarming. However, if SpaceX gets its entire planned fleet into orbit, it could have as many as 1200 dead satellites. Starlink has been one of the companies biggest pushes, aiming to blanket the globe with broadband Internet coverage. Starlink service will be offered only in the US, with some trials underway. The company has announced plans to open a public Beta test across the northern US and southern Canada within the next few months. CEO Elon Musk says that other countries would get service as soon as they receive regulatory approval. ____________________ Source: slashgear
There are 800 satellites in orbit now, so if 24 of them (or 3 percent) are dead, that leaves a lot of space junk up there, especially since it will lead to more space junk should this figure remain, as they plan to launch more.
i'd say considering the number of one offs sent up that have failed giving a 100% failure rate.... 3% isn't to bad, bound to happen.
It's supposed to be decent enough. I'm not an expert, but the news of some new satellite going bad soon after launch isn't that rare, so 97/100 good satellites sounds like a good score.
Btw, when I said there are 800 satellites in orbit now, I meant the Starlink satellites, not every single satellite up there.
