// orbital_mechanics_viz
From 60 satellites in 2019 to 7,000+ operational in 2024. The fastest infrastructure deployment in human history — modelled, mapped, and timed over Sydney.
7,000+
operational satellites
as of late 2024
6
orbital shells
340km VLEO → 1,200km
~25ms
latency (VLEO)
down from ~40ms at 550km
4-6×/day
quality passes at 34°S
elevation > 30° over Sydney
// key_findings
The 2023 transition from LEO 540km to VLEO 340km was the network's latency inflection — enabling gaming and enterprise tiers that couldn't be served at higher altitude.
7,000 satellites sounds like saturation but is 17% of the FCC-authorised 12,000 cap, and <17% of SpaceX's ITU-reserved V2 system allocation of 42,000.
At 34°S latitude (Sydney), the geometry of Starlink's inclined shells means 4-6 high-quality passes per day (elevation > 30°) — enough for continuous broadband with handoff.
The constellation's reliability comes from redundancy, not individual satellite uptime — each shell has enough spares that a satellite failure causes 0 coverage impact.
Kessler cascade risk becomes analytically non-trivial above ~6,000 operational LEO satellites at 550km. SpaceX's deorbit-within-5-years commitment is the key mitigation.
Pass prediction for a ground station at 34°S was computed analytically from Keplerian orbital parameters — no external API, all mathematics in TypeScript.
// data_lineage
// built_with
// methodology_note
Orbital positions are illustrative geometry, not real-time TLE propagation. Pass windows computed from simplified two-body mechanics with J2 perturbation correction for latitude accuracy.