This is fascinating. Can someone point me to resources that explain Starlink's seemingly (but obviously not) random trajectories as well as their positions (some in a line, some on individual trajectories).
The ones all in a line are recently launched. They are launched ~50 at a time into a low orbit and use thrusters to raise themselves up over the course of a few weeks or months. During that process they are all lined up in a row which slowly lengthens over time. As they reach operational altitude they separate into groups and each group spaces itself evenly around one orbit for even coverage.
For more detail than you ever wanted, check here: https://mikepuchol.com/modeling-starlink-capacity-843b2387f5...