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Originally Posted by redpoint5
Not aware of the Starlink issues. Can the duds boost enough to deploy solar, or are they doomed? How did they get deployed so suboptimally in the first place?
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They're inserted into what's called IIRC a validation orbit. Where the solar panels are extended and the ion engines fired up. They rotated the satellites to an edge-on orientation because of the atmospheric drag anomaly. Then the drag overpowered the reaction wheels so they couldn't re-orient for solar collection. In car racing it's called DNF.
The larger concern is the the Magnetosphere continues to weaken so this may be more common. Suggesting fewer satellites per launch to a higher validation orbit.
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Last mile is the most expensive part of delivery, so you've done a great good deed.
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It was like the ending of Cast Away, except that I had pedaled through a neigborhood that was like when the guy peered out his window in Close Encounters and the suburban scene with lawnmowers and kids playing looked like an alien landscape. All paint and fresh pavement and not a speck of dust from the trainyard. Only a block away. She seemed like she wanted something more, and about my age. But I excused myself. She can figure out where I live.
I'll take the 'good deed', though. Thanx.