On Monday, November 11 at 9:56 a.m. EST, 14:56 UTC (8:26 p.m. in Indian time), SpaceX launched 60 Starlink Satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
And it was observed in the sky from Guwahati on Tuesday, 12th November evening in an almost straight queue of stars moving in a slightly curved manner. it was quite a sight. We, a group of friends, at Hengerabari, Guwahati were out for a walk around 5:30 in the evening and observed some unusual happening in the sky.
Some of us tried to capture the moment in smartphone cameras and we wondered that the moving star like objects could be the Starlink satelliets launched just a day before by Elon Musk led venture SpaceX. And after searching for what we just observed over the internet, we get the perfect match everywhere including space.com. And yes, it was what we guessed, the Starlink satellites by SpaceX. The Falcon 9 delivered the second set of satellites at its fourth launch, having landed after three previous missions.
If you are unfamiliar with the term 'Starlink', then we would like to let you know that SpaceX is developing a low latency, broadband internet system to meet the needs of consumers across the globe. Enabled by a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites, Starlink will provide fast, reliable internet to populations with little or no connectivity, including those in rural communities and places where existing services are too expensive or unreliable.
Since the most recent launch of Starlink satellites in May, SpaceX has increased spectrum capacity for the end-user through upgrades in design that maximize the use of both Ka and Ku bands. Additionally, components of each satellite are 100% demisable and will quickly burn up in Earth’s atmosphere at the end of their life cycle—a measure that exceeds all current safety standards. Starlink is targeted to offer service in parts of the U.S. and Canada after six launches, rapidly expanding to global coverage of the populated world after 24 launches.
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