One of SpaceX’s new Starlink internet satellites has fallen toward Earth and burned up in the atmosphere as it was picked up by a California skywatcher. The device is one of SpaceX’s V2Mini, which is the latest model and is said to have problems.
According to the British newspaper “Daily Mail”, Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer and astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said that this satellite was launched into orbit only last month, and on February 27, 21 satellites and a complete group were launched. Launched. Of these run into problems, but only one is shot down, and the rest are being held while the space company decides whether or not they are salvageable.
McDowell added that there are 3,912 Starlink satellites in orbit, and 305 of them have entered and burned up.
Those lost satellites are in decline, the astronomer said, as they are ready to be retired, making way for the new Starlinks V2Minis that have moved into their place.
Although V2Minis is new, Musk has previously revealed that the new versions have some issues that may force SpaceX to cancel the batch.
This video captured satellite, seen by Dann Ciancă, chief meteorologist for KION546, is labeled Starlink-30062.
Starlink-30062 was one of 21 satellites launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on February 27. SpaceX claims that the new Mini V2 adds about four times the network capacity per satellite compared to previous versions. These devices weigh about 1,830 pounds.