SpaceX Shows Off New Starlink V2 'Mini' Satellites

INA - SOURCES 

SpaceX revealed new details about its Starlink V2 Mini satellites.

SpaceX is set to launch 21 miniaturized versions of its next generation Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit later today. The V2 Mini, as SpaceX calls it, is a compact version of the one the company is hoping to launch with its upcoming Starship rocket.

The company’s Starlink V2 Mini satellites launches aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on Monday from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida. Ahead of the launch, SpaceX revealed new details about the satellites through a series of tweets.

The second generation Starlink satellites will be equipped with more powerful antennas and high-speed frequencies, “which will allow Starlink to provide ~4x more capacity per satellite than earlier iterations,” SpaceX wrote on Twitter. V2 Minis also come with argon-fueled Hall thrusters, a cheaper alternative to xenon propellant that’s commonly used for satellite propulsion systems, according to SpaceX. This will mark the “first time ever that argon Hall thrusters are operated in space,” the company claims.

SpaceX had kept the specifications of its V2 Mini satellites under wraps. However, speculations around the smaller next generation satellites began to emerge when the company filed a request with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to grant it temporary authority to launch heftier broadband satellites. In its letter, SpaceX announced its intention to downsize the Gen2 satellites such that Falcon 9s can carry them to space.