Starlink: Over 2.6m subs
March 11, 2024
By Chris Forrester
Elon Musk’s Starlink says it now has “more than 2.6 million customers”, and up more than 300,000 in the last 11 weeks. The overall growth rate has been extremely steady and if it continues then Starlink could have 3.5-3.7 million subscribers/users by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, two back-to-back launches of Starlink satellites have taken place over the March 9th/10th weekend. The two launches had just a 5-hour gap between them. Starlink Mission 7-17 added another 23 satellites from the Vandenburg Space Force Base, while a Falcon 9 rocket carried another 23 Starlinks into their transfer orbits.
Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell reported that 52 of the early Starlink models were in the process of being de-orbited. In total Starlink is planning to de-orbit a total of 120 Starlinks.
SpaceX is still targeting March 14th for the third test launch of its giant Starship rocket from south Texas.