End result instead of harping on what the minimum time is, or the average, or the maximum, or what the distribution is between min and max. Just consider how many launches per week they are averaging and consider new satellites join the active list every day.
Of course, consider that people like to know how and why things work, not because they need to know, but simply because they’d like to know. You can't fault people for honest curiosity. Hell, most of the threads in this forum wouldn't exist if every post #2 was "in the big picture you don't have to worry about it".
To wit, while "what's important is that eating salad is good for you" is a pretty unassailable statement, it is not exactly the appropriate way to respond to "how do farmers grow lettuce?".
For those curious LEOP (launch and early operations) for each sat is:
1. A few hours for launch and release
2. A few hours (generally) to acquire and control the satellite and perform initial checkouts
3. Some number of weeks for orbit raising, which includes in-plane phasing
4. Some number of days for IOT (in orbit test), though much and probably all of that at this point for starlinks will be done during orbit raising
SpaceX requests spectrum to upgrade Starlink mobile services
spacenews.com
This one is going to get fun. As SpaceX does not have spectrum in the 2gihz MSS bands, and there's no way they'll get any without taking over or leasing rights from the prime 'owners' (in quotes because people don't actually
own spectrum), I see two possibilities here. Or at least I see these two right now...
1. Its related to this:
Iridium enters development deal to bring its network to smartphones - SpaceNews
2. It is retaliation against Charlie's 12ghz aspiration. Echostar currently has 2gig spectrum via their acquisition of the Terestar and ICO assets like 10 or 12 years ago (satellites which, near as I know, nobody uses), and they're currently deploying that spectrum for terrestrial 5G service through branded hand-held. FTR this isn't new news; Charlie bought those assets long ago and the scuttlebutt even then was that there was never any aspiration to use that spectrum from space, just to block it out so he could use it terrestrially--there was actually scuttlebutt during Terrestar production in the mid aughts that Terrestar didn't even want ~$300M satellite for anything but a frequency squat, and their real aspiration was to be acquired by an MNO.
Anyway, what I don't know (since I'm not a regulatory person) is whether a space license
would take priority over terrestrial use if there were an asset in space that was actually using those frequencies. But...if space use
does take priority over the currently Echostar MSS bands (again, MSS = mobile satellite service, emphasis
satellite), the interesting part is that the Echostar assets are close to EOL and, again near as I know, there's no replacement satellites planned. Nobody else is using those frequencies, so if SpaceX did get approval to use that spectrum for space up and down they'd basically be the priority users once the existing sats die....which can't be more than a few years away.
What's even more interesting is that this 2ghz battle basically aligns precedent with whichever side of the fence the 12ghz drama falls, so IMO whoever wins one, wins both.
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