{"id":9633,"date":"2026-01-30T21:05:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T13:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-launches-overnight-starlink-flight-as-it-unveils-new-stargaze-space-situational-awareness-system\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T21:05:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T13:05:54","slug":"spacex-launches-overnight-starlink-flight-as-it-unveils-new-stargaze-space-situational-awareness-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-launches-overnight-starlink-flight-as-it-unveils-new-stargaze-space-situational-awareness-system\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX launches overnight Starlink flight as it unveils new \u2018Stargaze\u2019 space situational awareness system"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_72459\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-72459\" style=\"width: 678px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260130-Starlink-6-101-Launch.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-72459\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260130-Starlink-6-101-Launch.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260130-Starlink-6-101-Launch-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 678px) 100vw, 678px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-72459\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SpaceX launches the Starlink 6-101 mission from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral on Jan. 30, 2026. Image: Adam Bernstein\/Spaceflight Now.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\nSpaceX completed its 13th and final Falcon 9 rocket launch of the month, which flew from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on in the predawn hours of Thursday morning.<\/p>\n<p>The Starlink 6-101 mission will add another 29 broadband internet satellites to SpaceX\u2019s low Earth orbit megaconstellation. Prior to liftoff, the company had more than 9,500 satellites in orbit, according to stats maintained by Dr. Johnathan McDowell, an expert orbital tracker and astronomer.<\/p>\n<p>Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 happened at 2:22 a.m. EST (0722 UTC) with the rocket flying on a south easterly trajectory.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/U6IHQe4_NzE?si=RIl2fyUkevYLNyd8\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 95 percent chance for favorable conditions at liftoff, citing a small chance for interference from cloud cover.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX launched the mission using the Falcon 9 first stage booster with the tail number 1095. This was its fifth flight following the launches of four other batches of Starlink satellites.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1095 landed on the drone ship, \u2018Just Read the Instructions,\u2019 positioned in the Atlantic Ocean. This was the 149th landing on this vessel and the 566th booster landing for SpaceX to date.<\/p>\n<h4>Tracking potential threats<\/h4>\n<p>In an update Thursday night, SpaceX announced a new system it set up for what\u2019s known as Space Situational Awareness or SSA. The new software is called \u201cStargaze\u201d and SpaceX said it will be available to all satellite operators \u201cfree of charge, via its space-traffic management platform\u201d in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPractices\u2014such as leaving rocket bodies in [low Earth orbit], operators maneuvering\u202ftheir satellites\u202fwithout sharing trajectory predictions or coordinating with other active satellites, and\u202fcountries\u202fconducting anti-satellite tests\u2014have heightened the risk of collision,\u202fnecessitating improvements in\u202fspace-traffic coordination,\u201d SpaceX wrote. \u201cConventional methods typically\u202fobserve\u202fobjects only a limited number of times per day, causing large\u202funcertainties in orbital predictions, further compounded by volatile space weather.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStargaze delivers a several-order-of-magnitude increase in detection capability compared to conventional ground-based systems.\u202fStargaze uses data collected from nearly\u202f30,000 star trackers, each\u202fof which makes\u202fcontinuous observations of nearby objects, resulting in\u202fapproximately 30 million transits detected daily\u202facross the fleet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=2017064797125410863&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fspaceflightnow.com%2F2026%2F01%2F30%2Flive-coverage-spacex-starlink-flight-comes-as-it-unveils-new-stargaze-space-situational-awareness-system%2F&amp;sessionId=42cb6ef8afaf5e171771678036ff26491269d63f&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"2017064797125410863\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782461462024390427=\"true\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">SpaceX has developed a novel Space Situational Awareness (SSA) system, called Stargaze \u2192 https:\/\/t.co\/vE0qSpfDt2<\/p>\n<p>To maximize safety for all satellites in space, @SpaceX will be making Stargaze conjunction data available to all operators, free of charge. By providing this\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/N7St7dvpz2<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Starlink (@Starlink) January 30, 2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Built into SpaceX\u2019s more than 9,500 satellites on orbit are the company\u2019s own star trackers. As the name suggests, these sensors allow the satellites to understand its altitude, orientation and location in space.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX said its Stargaze system is designed to allow for assessing possible conjunctions or collisions in space on the order of minutes instead of several hours, which is the current standard. It pointed to an example of its use late last year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn late 2025, a Starlink satellite\u202fencountered\u202fa conjunction with a\u202fthird-party\u202fsatellite that was performing maneuvers, but whose operator was not sharing ephemeris (trajectory predictions),\u201d the company said. \u201c\u202fUntil five hours before\u202fthe conjunction,\u202fthe close\u202fapproach\u202fwas\u202fanticipated\u202fto be\u202f~9,000 meters \u2014 considered a safe miss-distance with zero probability of collision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith just five hours to go, the\u202fthird-party satellite performed a\u202fmaneuver\u202fwhich\u202fchanged its trajectory and collapsed the\u202fanticipated\u202fmiss distance to just\u202f~60 meters.\u202fStargaze quickly detected this maneuver and published an updated trajectory to the screening platform, generating new\u202fCDMs\u202fwhich were\u202fimmediately\u202fdistributed to relevant satellites.\u202fUltimately, the\u202fStarlink\u202fsatellite was able to react within an hour of the maneuver being detected, planning an avoidance\u202fmaneuver\u202fto\u202freduce\u202fcollision risk back down to zero.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX said this technology has been in a \u201cclosed beta with over a dozen participating satellite operators,\u201d but didn\u2019t state which companies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX launches the Starlink 6-101 mission from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral on Jan. 30, 2026. Image: Adam Bernstein\/Spaceflight Now. SpaceX completed its 13th and final Falcon 9 rocket launch of the month, which flew from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on in the predawn hours of Thursday morning. The Starlink 6-101 mission will add [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[479,779,676,316,440,840],"class_list":["post-9633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-falcon-9","tag-jrti","tag-sld-45","tag-spacex","tag-starlink","tag-starlink-6-101"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9633"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}