We have never seen the actual release of the Starlink satellites.<p>During every launch the hosts on the stream state that an unfortunate unexpected loss of signal happened but since the stream is stable before and after payload separation, this would be surprising. One might have thought that the vehicle was just at an unfortunate point in the trajectory where no connection was actually possible but today's payload separation event was far earlier and the video cut off anyways.<p>It is a bit surprising since the mechanism does not seem that sophisticated.
Do we know if SpaceX has taken any steps to address the issue with Starlink satellites affecting astronomers' view of the night sky? <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/02/spacex-starlink-astronomy/606169/" rel="nofollow">https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/02/spacex-s...</a>
I love how the headline isn't "SpaceX has more operating satellites in orbit than any other company." or "SpaceX launches 240 satellites in 90 days." it is "SpaceX fails to <i>land</i> the booster stage on their latest flight."<p>That is pretty amazing to me.
Also discussed here I think: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22348251" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22348251</a>