Discussion: Starlink L26 group launch tonight, 1st pass visible in Moncton
in: biggins; biggins > 2021-05-14
May 15, 2021 6:54 PM
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Celestrak has a preliminary orbit for tonight's starlink L26 launch (6:52 PM EDT). No predicts at heavens-above yet, but I plotted the track and made a .kml for the first orbit after launch, which should be visible from Moncton (note times on the map are EDT - watch for the pass starting at 9:40 PM ADT tonight).
Interesting orbit - its different than the usual elliptical initial starlink orbits. This one is nearly circular at the full operation altitude of ~570 km. This probably has to do with the rideshare payloads on this launch that may not have their own propulsion. The high altitude is the reason for the large magenta 10-deg elevation circle in the map here. Celestrak says the payload deploy will be at 8:32 PM EDT, right before our overhead pass. We might be able to see both the starlink stack and 2nd stage moving apart as they go overhead, although they'll still be very close together at that point. The late payload separation a full orbit after launch is also unusual. Should be a very high pass in Moncton (maybe 60 deg elevation in the NW) and pretty dark there already.
You should be able to see a similar pass in Truckee 3 hrs later. At that point the 2nd stage and starlink stack should be well separated - by tens of seconds. The starlink stack should have spread a little so will look like a very short line, while the falcon-9 second stage will just be a single dot.
Pass map and .kml for the pass over the NE:
starlink_L26_pass_5_15_2021.png
starlink_L26_pass_5_15_2021.kml
Interesting orbit - its different than the usual elliptical initial starlink orbits. This one is nearly circular at the full operation altitude of ~570 km. This probably has to do with the rideshare payloads on this launch that may not have their own propulsion. The high altitude is the reason for the large magenta 10-deg elevation circle in the map here. Celestrak says the payload deploy will be at 8:32 PM EDT, right before our overhead pass. We might be able to see both the starlink stack and 2nd stage moving apart as they go overhead, although they'll still be very close together at that point. The late payload separation a full orbit after launch is also unusual. Should be a very high pass in Moncton (maybe 60 deg elevation in the NW) and pretty dark there already.
You should be able to see a similar pass in Truckee 3 hrs later. At that point the 2nd stage and starlink stack should be well separated - by tens of seconds. The starlink stack should have spread a little so will look like a very short line, while the falcon-9 second stage will just be a single dot.
Pass map and .kml for the pass over the NE:
starlink_L26_pass_5_15_2021.png
starlink_L26_pass_5_15_2021.kml
May 15, 2021 10:25 PM
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Great, hope he gets a look at it! Spacex has almost finished launching all the starlink sats in its first shell (1500+ sats!). There are five planned shells. One more at approximately this same inclination (53 deg) but a little lower altitude, and three others at much steeper polar and near-polar inclinations. All the polar launches will be from Vandenberg and those are due to start this July. Should be some favorable early evening launches among those for you guys to see.
Launch livestream at the usual place. Looks like they're still on schedule at the moment. Just started fueling.
Launch livestream at the usual place. Looks like they're still on schedule at the moment. Just started fueling.
May 16, 2021 12:46 AM
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I saw one bright flare, just past NW at about 40 deg elevation at the expected pass time.
This discussion thread is closed.