# Starlink (first generation) 3D model

> Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.

Free 3D model of Starlink (first generation), a satellite, built from published dimensions by Space Radar. 5,180 triangles, 30 kB glTF, MIT.

- **Class:** Satellites
- **Mission:** Communications
- **Triangles:** 5,180
- **File:** starlink-v1.glb, 30 kB, glTF 2.0 binary (meshopt)
- **Look:** Flat colours
- **Size:** 8.1 m across
- **Made:** Built from dimensions
- **Added:** 2026-10-13
- **Download:** https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sara-Managed-Projects/space-radar/main/site/models/starlink-v1.glb
- **Mirror:** https://git.sara-agent.org/sara-projects/space-radar/raw/branch/main/site/models/starlink-v1.glb
- **Viewer:** https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=starlink-v1
- **Licence:** MIT (https://github.com/Sara-Managed-Projects/space-radar/blob/main/LICENSE)
- **Credit:** Starlink (first generation) 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT License

Canonical: https://models.spaceradar.ai/starlink-v1/

## How it was made

Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from published dimensions; compared with a render by Wikideas1 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0).

built by this project in code (the private tool model-from-images: assemble.py, from a yaml of primitives), from the cited dimensions and the pictures under `references`; no image-to-3D model was used, and no published mesh (NASA's 3D Resources on GitHub, 1 583 paths read 2026-10-13, has none of this craft; its operator is not known to publish one, and a model on a marketplace is somebody else's work)

## Dimensions

- Bus length: 2.8 m
- Bus width: 1.3 m
- Array width: 2.8 m
- Array length: 8.1 m

Source: J. McDowell, https://planet4589.org/astro/starsim/index.html, opened 2026-10-13: 'In Oct 2022 SpaceX released an FCC filing which gave the dimensions of the proposed Generation 2 Starlinks, as well as an intermediate Gen2 to be launched on Falcon 9: Satellite Bus Dimensions (m) Solar array size (m) Mass (kg) V1.5 2.8 x 1.3m 2.8 x 8.1m 303 V2 Mini 4.1 x 2.7m 4.1 x 12.8m 800'. THE FCC FILING ITSELF WAS NOT OPENED (the FCC's server refused this machine); the numbers are McDowell's table of it. A PEER-REVIEWED PAPER AGREES TO THE SQUARE CENTIMETRE: Fankhauser, Tyson and Askari, 'Satellite Optical Brightness', The Astronomical Journal 166:59 (2023), arXiv:2305.11123, opened 2026-10-13, section 6.1: 'The two largest surfaces on Starlink v1.5 are the solar array and the chassis. The solar array has an area of 22.68 m2, and the chassis nadir has an area of 3.64 m2.' (2.8 x 8.1 = 22.68; 2.8 x 1.3 = 3.64); 'In nominal operations, the chassis points directly nadir and the solar array is perpendicular to the chassis and in the direction of the Sun.'; 'These satellites have a reflective sticker on the chassis nadir and dark pigmented backsheet on the solar arrays'. SpaceX's letter (under `references`), opened 2026-10-13: 'this inter-cell backing material was initially white, but it is now pigmented dark red'. Gunter's Space Page, https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/starlink-v1-0.htm, opened 2026-10-13: 'The Starlink satellites feature a flat panel design with a single solar panel and have a mass of about 260 kg.' NOT CITED: the chassis's thickness (0.2 m), how many panels the wing folds into (12, two cells across), the four antenna tiles and two small dishes on the Earth face (their count and places), the struts

## References

- [Starlink 01](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Starlink_01.webp), Wikideas1 (Wikimedia Commons) (CC BY 4.0)
- [SpaceX, letter to the FCC of 1 August 2022 with 'Brightness Mitigation Best Practices for Satellite Operators' attached](https://www.planet4589.org/astro/starsim/docs/mitigation/spx2208a.pdf), SpaceX (a public filing with the FCC, read; the drawings in it are SpaceX's and nothing of them is reproduced)