The eventual "end state" for Starlink is to be in an equilibrium state where new satellites are constantly being launched to replace the ones that age out and fail. I have no idea what OP is on about with "not being able to keep up", though, the constellation is nowhere near that state yet.
Nighed@sffa.community 1 year ago
I think the current problem is that as the gen 2 satellites are bigger and heavier they can’t launch as many.
FaceDeer@kbin.social 1 year ago
That's what Starship's going to be for.
Nighed@sffa.community 1 year ago
Yes, but that probably doesn’t help in the next few years. (Expecting a few more fireballs)
They may need to seriously up the Falcon9 launch cadence or switch back to gen 1 sats. (Unless the better capabilities of the gen 2 sats mean they need less up there - I thought that the number was more due to low coverage due to altitude though)
FaceDeer@kbin.social 1 year ago
They've already got prototype Starship upper stages built that have the cargo door necessary for launching Starlink satellites from, I think "a few years" is likely a very pessimistic timeframe at this point. If they're not launching Starlink satellites with Starship at some point next year I will be very surprised.