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🇷🇺Putin wants to know why Russia can only build 40 satellites a year (arstechnica.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The Starlink sats that SpaceX has been launching in bulk are pretty impressive. The V2 minis that they're launching in batches of 20+ are about 4 meters across (before deploying) and 800kg. The throughout numbers are also a big step up from their V1 sats.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/spacexs-2nd-generation-starlink-satellites-start-launching-as-soon-as-today/amp/

As for their Transporter rideshare launches with other companies' payloads, those have a mix of cubesats and smallsats, usually up to ESPA class, including tugs, military satellites, comms, imaging, etc. These aren't 1u cubesat college projects, and you shouldn't diminish the complexity, amount of work, and improvements going on in the US satellite industry these days.