Three of the 60 Phase 1 Starlink satellites launched into low Earth Orbit (LEO) in last May are inoperative and will gradually be deorbited over the next five years, announced SpaceX over the weekend.
These 60 satellites were taken into LEO on May 23 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle.
They're part of Phase 1 (or the first orbital shell), which will eventually consist of 1,600 Starlink satellites flying at an altitude 550 km high. SpaceX eventually plans to deploy close to 12,000 Starlink satellites in three orbital shells by the mid- or late-2020s.
SpaceX said the three Starlink satellites malfunctioned and can't receive commands from ground control. These satellites will be left to orbit aimlessly until the Earth's gravity plucks them out of orbit and destroys them in fiery re-entries.
The loss of some Starlink satellites was expected, however, said SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
"It's possible that some of these satellites may not work, and in fact, (there's a) small possibility that all of the satellites will not work," said Musk a few days after the first 60 were orbited. "But these are a great design and we've done everything we can to maximize the probability of success."
SpaceX said it will later command two other Starlink satellites to intentionally destroy themselves on re-entry to "simulate an end of life disposal."
But before these self-destruct missions, SpaceX will test "latency and capacity by streaming videos and playing some high bandwidth video games" of the surviving Starlink satellites. It said it will test the in-orbit Starlink satellites using ground antennas in North America.
Last week, Musk said Starlink will offer a competitively priced alternative for people that are unhappy with their current internet service. He said Starlink will become fully operational after 800 satellites come online. Reaching this number will need a dozen more launches aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicles.
In early June, these 60 satellites powered-up and contacted ground stations. Most of these small satellites, which each weigh about 227 kg, have climbed from their current 440 km altitude drop-off orbit to a higher 550 km target orbit.
"All 60 satellites have deployed their solar arrays successfully, generated positive power and communicated with our ground stations," according to SpaceX.
SpaceX plans to deploy over 2,800 Ku-band and Ka-band Starlink satellites at an altitude of 1,150 km in what it calls "orbital shell 2." More than 7,500 V-band Starlink satellites in "orbital shell 3" will be deployed at an altitude of 340 km.
"SpaceX continues to monitor the constellation for any satellites that may need to be safely deorbited," said a SpaceX spokesperson. "All the satellites have maneuvering capability and are programmed to avoid each other and other objects in orbit by a wide margin."
The total cost of the decade-long Starlink project is estimated at over $10 billion.
