Starlink, a division of SpaceX, is a satellite internet constellation operator aiming to provide high-speed, low-latency broadband internet to underserved areas globally. With over 7,000 satellites in low Earth orbit as of March 2025, Starlink offers internet services with download speeds between 50 and 220 Mbps. It utilizes phased array antennas and optical space lasers for global coverage and supports various applications, including remote work, disaster recovery, and IoT. Keywords associated with Starlink are satellite internet, SpaceX, broadband, and LEO constellation.
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SpaceX sought to deploy up to 1,500 Starlink satellites in 2020.
The 60-satellite Starlink batch launched on 2020-01-06, is intended to provide high-speed broadband internet.
SpaceX projects that after 22 Starlink launches the company would be able to offer Starlink service globally.
Officials had forecast reaching a 48-launch-per-year capacity by 2023, but the rapid growth in Starlink missions could allow the 45th Space Wing to attain that target in 2020.
The first launch of 2020 from Cape Canaveral occurred on 2020-01-06, when SpaceX launched a third batch of 60 Starlink satellites.
SpaceX is manufacturing seven Starlink satellites per day at its Kent, Washington facility.
SpaceX launched the 60 Starlink satellites initially to a 290-kilometer orbit for on-orbit checkouts before raising them to a final 550-kilometer orbit.
SpaceX used the same Falcon 9 booster to launch 60 Starlink satellites in May 2019, 10 Iridium Next satellites for Iridium in January 2019, and Telesat Canada’s Telstar 18 Vantage in September 2018.
SpaceX planned up to six Starlink launches in 2019 but completed only two launches that year.
One of the 60 Starlink satellites launched on 2020-01-06 received a darkening treatment to make it less reflective.
SpaceX is building and launching up to 12,000 Starlink satellites and has filed regulatory paperwork with the International Telecommunication Union for an additional 30,000 satellites.
SpaceX launched 60 Starlink broadband satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket on 2020-01-06 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
SpaceX is deploying its first 1,584 Starlink satellites at 550 km to accelerate service rollout and reduce the risk of creating orbital debris.
SpaceX planned to conduct 24 Starlink launches in 2020, each presumably carrying 60 satellites.
Elon Musk set Starlink’s economic viability threshold at 1,000 satellites and identified reaching 12,000 satellites as a very successful outcome.
About 10 satellites from SpaceX’s May 2019 Starlink launch never reached their final operational orbit, according to tracking by astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
In December the U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved a SpaceX modification to fan out Starlink satellites into more 550-kilometer orbits to expand coverage to populated areas more rapidly.
SpaceX scheduled a launch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 2020-01-06.
SpaceX planned as many as four launches in January 2020, including two other Starlink missions and an in-flight abort test of Crew Dragon.
SpaceX projected launching as many as 24 Starlink missions in 2020 to place enough satellites into orbit to make the system economically viable.