Share the news of June 2 with friends and circles of friends through wechat scanning QR code

. On Wednesday, local time in the United States, SpaceX confirmed that the deployment of the fourth of the five "orbital shells" in the initial stage of the satellite network of the star chain may begin as early as July

according to the plan, 4408 satellites will be launched in the initial stage of the SpaceX satellite chain satellite network and deployed on five orbital shells respectively to provide low latency and high-speed Internet worldwide

these orbital shells are distinguished by orbital inclination (the angle between a given orbit and the earth's equator) and orbital height (the distance from the orbit to the ground). Each orbital shell is like a "shell" around the earth, which is composed of a group of satellites evenly distributed around the entire Earth sphere

of the 4408 satellites in the star chain, 3168 (72%) will be deployed in two orbital shells. Since SpaceX started its satellite launch in november2019, "shell 1" and "shell 4" have always been the focus of the company's deployment

"shell 1" currently has 1450 satellites in orbit. This orbital shell was once occupied by satellites. However, of the 1665 first generation satellites launched between november2019 and may 2021, about 205 were lost due to various anomalies. Most of them were derailed under control and re entered the atmosphere after failure, but 28 of them failed and took months to years to re-enter the atmosphere

spacex began to deploy satellites to "shell 4" in November 2021. Since then, the company has maintained an unprecedented speed. In the past six months, 913 satellites have been launched, of which 866 can work normally. If SpaceX continues to launch at this speed, by the end of 2022, 1584 satellites (and some spare satellites) required by "shell 4" may enter orbit

it is surprising that SpaceX launched 51 satellite links to "shell 2" in September 2021. This may be aimed at proving the concept of the first v1.5 satellites equipped with laser link function

now, SpaceX plans to deploy satellites to the fourth orbital shell (shell 3). In fact, as early as May 20 this year, alejandroalcantarilla, a science and technology reporter, once disclosed on twitter that SpaceX was preparing to deploy satellites to the fourth orbital shell as early as July 2022

on Wednesday, local time in the United States, SpaceX confirmed that it had applied for a communication license for the satellite launch no earlier than the end of June, that is, the launch of "Starlink group 3-1" called the "special temporary authorization" license (STA). This will mark the start of SpaceX's launch of so-called polar chain satellites. These satellites are also equipped with laser links, which will help connect Internet users of the satellite links at both ends of the earth

spacex is building an optical based space-based network in orbit, which makes the company's routing capabilities more useful, making it easier for aircraft or ships far away from any nearby ground station to maintain connectivity to networks almost anywhere on earth. SpaceX only plans to deploy 348 satellites in "shell 3". The company only needs to launch Falcon 9 rockets seven to eight times to complete the deployment

according to the reporter Alcantara, SpaceX's previous two "shell 3" missions are planned to take off from the launch site in Vandenberg, California as early as July, and the first launch may be carried out on July 5. At the same time, SpaceX seems to have no intention of slowing down the launch pace of its "shell 4" and will continue to maximize the use of its east coast launch pad with a view to achieving the goal of launching at least once a week on average in 2022. (small)