Upcoming Starlink launches in September 2023
Starlink Group 6-13: August 31, 2023, 7:31 p.m. – 12:01 a.m. EDT (11:31 – 4:01 UTC September 1)
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Cape Canaveral, Florida | DATE/TIME MAY CHANGE
You’ll be able to watch a livestream of the launch on SpaceX’s YouTube channel. They usually start about 5 minutes earlier than liftoff.
After launch, search for a prepare of lights
Following each Starlink launch, the web buzzes with individuals asking:
What’s that lengthy line of lights within the sky that appears like a prepare?
What you’re seeing is the Starlink satellites shifting into the next orbit. You’ll be able to test to see if they are going to move over your space utilizing the Find Starlink website.
Rising numbers amid controversy
In line with Wikipedia, as of August 2023, Starlink consists of over 5,000 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit that talk with designated floor transceivers. They supply web entry to greater than 1.5 million subscribers.
Love ’em or hate ’em, these Starlink satellites are a part of SpaceX’s imaginative and prescient for a worldwide web communication satellite constellation. They ship high-speed web service worldwide, primarily to areas the place ground-based web is unreliable, unavailable, or costly. The non-public firm is well-known for launching batches back-to-back, a number of occasions a month, often lofting 60 satellites at a time. And SpaceX plans to construct as much as maybe as many as 30,000 ultimately.
Most thought it was thrilling to see the primary few Starlink satellites touring collectively within the evening sky. However then extra have been launched, after which extra. And astronomers started to fret.
As a result of Starlinks are shiny, astronomers say they’re photobombing astronomical photographs. Due to this fact, they’ve the potential to intervene with the skilled astronomical observations which have introduced us our modern-day view of the cosmos. And though SpaceX has tried to deal with the difficulty, they continue to be removed from what astronomers say is suitable.
Backside line: SpaceX at present has one Starlink launch deliberate for the month of September 2023.
Read more from EarthSky: Starlink satellites can look like a plume or train of light
