They're launching 10 Starlink Mass Simulators on Flight 7. They don't count yet, but interesting development.

@Mqrius I reckoned they could very well launch a couple of real Starlink satellites on the first deploy test since they are comparatively inexpensive.

I guess they are not yet 'orbit-confident'

@Berg I reckon they're similar but maybe guaranteed to burn up and not filled with argon or something. Not that argon is expensive but why fuel them if you don't have to?

As for orbit-confident: Did you see the list of stuff they're testing this flight? They're testing so much new things, it's great! Worth a read. But makes sense that they don't go full orbit yet. https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-7

@Mqrius I imagine they would want the frame to have the same rigidity and perhaps also masses in roughly the same places in order to properly test the deployment mechanism.

Starlinks are supposed to be fully demisable on re-entry but that article talks of "with splashdown targeted in the Indian Ocean" which makes me wonder if the mass is more dense and more likely to survive? Argon wouldn't be a pollution risk, there is plenty in atmosphere but maybe they prefer not to burn up PCB circuit boards and the like if they are not needed. So better from pollution perspective to have lump of concrete in ocean rather than burning up something in atmosphere?

I am guessing based on clues that might not mean anything here so take with due dose of salt.

@ChristopherRandles I wonder if Starlink sized objects aren't vaporized by this suborbital trajectory, but would be by a slow decay from orbit?

@CommanderZander what matters is orbital energy, and it's the same here as an actual Starlink deploy orbit

@ChristopherRandles Yeah I wouldn't be majorly surprised if they're basically full starlink sats "with the expensive bits removed". I dunno what the expensive bits are... ion thrusters?

@Mqrius Ultrasensitive phased array antennas are certainly up there

@Berg Yes but they're coming back down within 5 years :D

@OlegEterevsky 2024-12-01 can resolve

Sorry for the near duplicate but thought people might like different milestones in one place for comparison.

https://manifold.markets/ChristopherRandles/starship-milestone-dates-megamarket

Musk: "The payload for all the flights this year is data" (Tim Dodd interview)

Does a tanker launch (payload is propellant for transfer to another starship) qualify, assuming the transfer occurs as planned but neither starship contains any other payload?

@SeekingEternity Yes

@OlegEterevsky Is this still the case if the transfer is only done as a transfer test?

@Mqrius Hmm. I didn’t really think this through because I expect that Starship will almost certainly be first used to launch Starlink satellites.

I suppose if the fuel is used to raise the orbit of the other Starship, then it can be considered “useful payload”. If it’s just pumped to another tank, then probably not. After all they’ve already performed a test pumping fuel from one tank to another.

@OlegEterevsky Yeah I'm expecting Starlinks first too, but that's a pretty good definition. Seems solid. Let's see how SpaceX is gonna find some secret third option :D