Daily briefing ยท
What SpaceX is doing in space
Starlink, launches and space weather, built from public tracking data.
01Orbit raising
The orbit elevator
New Starlink batches are released low, around 260 km, then spend weeks climbing to their working altitude on their own thrusters. Starting low means a dud satellite falls back and burns up quickly instead of becoming space junk.
02Launches
Launch countdown
The next SpaceX launches with live countdowns, then every recent flight and whether its booster came back to land.
03Reuse
Booster hall of fame
The most-flown Falcon first stages. Flying the same booster dozens of times is the main reason SpaceX can launch so often and so cheaply.
04Constellation
Going up, burning up
How many Starlink satellites are in orbit, and how many were launched or burned up each month. Unlike the boosters above, Starlink satellites never land: when one comes down, it burns up in the atmosphere. Most are older satellites retired on purpose so they don't become space junk.
05Space weather
Space weather & drag risk
Solar storms heat and puff up the upper atmosphere, which adds drag on low satellites. In February 2022 a modest storm brought down most of a fresh Starlink batch, so a high Kp is bad news for batches still low on the elevator.
06News
Headlines
The latest SpaceX stories, collected from space news sites by the Spaceflight News API.