SpaceX StarLink satellite internet [UPDATES]

[DocM]

Rural Michigan is an area that StarLink could help.  The state's overall population density is about 174/sq mile (67/km2), but the Upper Peninsula is about 19/sq mi (7.3/km2). Parts of the Lower Peninsula are also sparsely populated. 

 

The major telecos either don't serve them at all, only provide DSL, or you pay through your teeth for Hughes or ViaSat.

[TrevorLahey]

Century Link tech told the guy that was getting Starlink that they weren’t really bothering building out DSL anymore is because of Starlink and Century Link wanted more of the business market. That was only a tech so take that for what it’s worth. Century Link DSL is all this co-worker can get in his area, and it works about every other day. 
 

we have both been on vacation this past week so I’m curious if he will have been accepted in the beta yet (Ohio). 

[DocM]

https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-preps-ruggedized-starlink-dish-for-cars-boats-and-planes

 

Quote

 

SpaceX Preps 'Ruggedized' Starlink Dish for Cars, Boats, and Planes

SpaceX is working on a “ruggedized” version of its Starlink dish designed to work outside cars, boats, and planes and in harsh climates.

SpaceX filed an application with the FCC on Tuesday to operate the so-called “high-performance” Starlink dish. The hardware still relies on a phased array antenna to receive the high-speed internet from SpaceX satellites in orbit. 

“But these high-performance (‘HP’) models will operate with higher gain and lower transmit  power (thus maintaining a consistent EIRP compared to other SpaceX Services user terminals),  a higher scan angle, and features that ruggedize the unit for use in harsh environments,” the company wrote in the application.

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[Michael Scrip]

On 23/07/2021 at 02:48, FloatingFatMan said:

 

I'm not convinced as to how viable their market is...

 

 

I guess we could ask ViaSat and HughesNet how viable the market is... since they've been around for 10 years and 20 years, respectively.

 

And considering how awful old satellite internet was... and how great the reviews are for StarLink now... I'd say StarLink is in a great position.

 

Sure... satellite internet will never have as many customers as fixed wireline service or 4G/5G service.  But there is definitely a market for the people who have no other option.  Especially if StarLink is actually good and fast... which it seems to be.

[DocM]

Gwynne Shotwell at the Space Symposium,

 

* Talked about the chip shortages, and they should resolve later this year. Big part of the launch delays.

 

* New terminal design near New Years;  half the cost, and it could halve again next year.

 

* ALL future Starlinks will have laser links, another part of the launch delays.

 

* Next Starlink launch in ~3 weeks.

[DocM]

Amazon protests StarLink, again...

 

Bezos Alert 🤪

 

Starlink did an FCC filing which proposed 2 paths forward; mostly Starship or mostly Falcon 9. This isn't unusual in International Telecommunications Union (ITU) filings, and apparently has been done at FCC as well.

 

Naturally, Amazon filed a statement complaining "Too much information! Stop their deployment!"

 

/sigh

 

SpaceX has responded with both barrels....

 

 

 

[DocM]

Starlink partners in Japan 

 

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Telecommunication/SpaceX-and-KDDI-team-up-to-eliminate-wireless-blind-spots-in-Japan

 

Quote

 

SpaceX and KDDI team up to eliminate wireless blind spots in Japan

 

TOKYO -- KDDI, Japan's second-largest mobile provider, has emerged as one of SpaceX's partners in rolling out high-speed wireless coverage via satellites, Nikkei has learned, part of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's goal of connecting the entire world to the internet.

 

SpaceX has launched hundreds of Starlink telecommunications satellites with the goal of fully starting services in Japan by the end of the year. KDDI and SpaceX will begin a network proving test in Japan this month, and coverage is expected to be commercially available next year.

 

The pair will start by offering internet service to customers living in mountainous regions and islands for no additional charge. The satellite network will also serve as backup in case terrestrial telecom lines are disrupted during natural disasters or blackouts.

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[DocM]

Starlink exits beta testing in October

 

 

 

[DocM]

Ohio State University uses StarLink for navigation...

 

https://news.osu.edu/spacex-satellite-signals-used-like-gps-to-pinpoint-location-on-earth

 

Quote

 

SpaceX satellite signals used like GPS to pinpoint location on Earth

 

Researchers find novel way to use Starlink system

 

Engineering researchers have developed a method to use signals broadcast by Starlink internet service satellites to accurately locate a position here on Earth, much like GPS does. It is the first time the Starlink system has been harnessed by researchers outside SpaceX for navigation.

 

The Starlink satellites, sent into orbit by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, are designed to provide broadband internet connections in remote locations around the world. The researchers used signals from six Starlink satellites to pinpoint a location on Earth within 8 meters of accuracy.

 

Their findings, shared today (Sept. 22, 2021) at the Institute of Navigation GNSS annual meeting in St. Louis, may provide a promising alternative to GPS. Their results will be published in the upcoming issue of the journal IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems.

 

The researchers did not need assistance from SpaceX to use the satellite signals, and they emphasized that they had no access to the actual data being sent through the satellites – only to information related to the satellite’s location and movement.

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[DocM]

StarLink India

 

https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/sanjay-bhargava-joins-spacex-to-serve-as-starlink-country-director-india-starting-october-1858743-2021-09-29

 

Quote

In an effort to expand its presence in India, Elon Musk run SpaceX has now appointed a top executive in the country. The leading space firm in the world has announced that Sanjay Bhargava will be joining its team as Starlink Country Director India, effective from next month.

From October 1, 2021, Sanjay Bhargava will be working with SpaceX as the Country Director for Starlink in India. Bhargava shared the update recently through a LinkedIn post. He wrote about his upcoming role in the post and further stated that he shared a common vision with Starlink to support a connectivity transformation in India, starting with the rural parts of the country.

 

[Borken_]

So I've used the service in rural Minnesota near the iron ranges where most internet is handled through DSL and where telecom's are traded left and right leading to indolence in maintaining current lines and completely abandoning plans for new lines (despite coming from the same box). It provided the same connection speed as my Fiber-based broadband in the cities, albeit with minor losses in connection of maybe 1-3 seconds a minute (or less) depending on the satellite it was changing to. It was still possible to play Call of Duty Black Ops Cold war in one of the 24 player lobbies using a WiFi-6 connection to the Starlink provided router/modem setup. The terminal was professionally installed to the roof of the cabin. Genuinely, despite its steep price, it is still very new with optimizations being made in every possible facet of this operation. For its current price, to areas with no other option, it's kind of amazing knowing that my neighbors here can barely manage a stable megabit per second while I have fiber-broadband speeds now (coming from nothing) and I know others would have this experience too.

[IsItPluggedIn]

On 02/10/2021 at 08:12, Suurin_ said:

So I've used the service in rural Minnesota near the iron ranges where most internet is handled through DSL and where telecom's are traded left and right leading to indolence in maintaining current lines and completely abandoning plans for new lines (despite coming from the same box). It provided the same connection speed as my Fiber-based broadband in the cities, albeit with minor losses in connection of maybe 1-3 seconds a minute (or less) depending on the satellite it was changing to. It was still possible to play Call of Duty Black Ops Cold war in one of the 24 player lobbies using a WiFi-6 connection to the Starlink provided router/modem setup. The terminal was professionally installed to the roof of the cabin. Genuinely, despite its steep price, it is still very new with optimizations being made in every possible facet of this operation. For its current price, to areas with no other option, it's kind of amazing knowing that my neighbors here can barely manage a stable megabit per second while I have fiber-broadband speeds now (coming from nothing) and I know others would have this experience too.

This is great to hear and you are the ideal customer for this product. I hope that Starlink pushes the local telecoms to provide better services in similar areas instead of abandoning them all together.

 

There are many places in the world that need this technology unfortunately I'm unsure many of them will be able to afford the cost. I could see some towns/villages in remote areas paying for one and sharing it with multiple houses/families to cover costs.

 

I would be interested in if it could be used as the backbone for a 3G/4G tower, stand a tower up connect it to Starlink, then anybody in range can use their phones, easy way to get coverage in remote areas, could be solar powered with a battery. Just helicopter the whole package in, instant mobile coverage. Now im rambling.

[Borken_]

On 01/10/2021 at 17:47, IsItPluggedIn said:

There are many places in the world that need this technology unfortunately I'm unsure many of them will be able to afford the cost. I could see some towns/villages in remote areas paying for one and sharing it with multiple houses/families to cover costs.

I assume that as optimizations come to the service, hardware, production, and deployment that prices should fall to more acceptable costs. This service is only just leaving Beta so there is of course years of improvement ahead.

[DocM]

On 01/10/2021 at 18:47, IsItPluggedIn said:

This is great to hear and you are the ideal customer for this product. I hope that Starlink pushes the local telecoms to provide better services in similar areas instead of abandoning them all together.

 

There are many places in the world that need this technology unfortunately I'm unsure many of them will be able to afford the cost. 

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SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, and others within StarLink, say the v2.0 terminal will halve in cost next year, then halve again in another update.  Hints the dish is going rectangular.

 

[DocM]

Good lord...should have expected this after Moscow shut down most independent  reporting of their space program.

 

https://tass.com/science/1347023

Quote

Starlink satellites can be used to change flight path of missiles — Roscosmos chief

 

According to Rogozin, Starlink can also be used to deliver "purely political, and, most likely, anti-Russian content" directly to mobile phones

 

MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. /TASS/. Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin believes that Starlink satellites, launched by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX, can be used for military purposes in the future, including for changing the flight path of cruise missiles and managing spy networks.

 

"This year, they [SpaceX] received about $900 million [in state subsidies], the entire subsidy for the forthcoming period is $20 billion. So, a question arises: why would the government do that? And the answer is: those spacecraft provide internet connection, they can become a platform for steering cruise missiles, for changing their flight path when they are already in flight. [They can also be used] for sending orders to special forces, to networks of agents," he said.

 

According to Rogozin, Starlink can also be used to deliver "purely political, and, most likely, anti-Russian content" directly to mobile phones.

 

Rogozin went on to say that by now, about 1,800 Starlink satellites were delivered to the orbit. The next state of the project envisages the launch of 17,000 spacecraft. Eventually, Starlink’s orbital constellation will comprise about 42,000 satellites.

 

"We won’t just sit and wait, of course. We have our own project, Sfera. It was presented to the president earlier this year, and we plan to orbit hundreds of our own satellites to protect our sovereignty," Rogozin said.

 

Edited October 9, 2021 by DocM

[PGHammer]

On 09/10/2021 at 01:18, DocM said:

Good lord...should have expected this after Moscow shut down most independent  reporting of their space program.

 

https://tass.com/science/1347023

 

Was this not seen with FTTN/FTTP as deployments increased - merely in the US?  (And hat was before Google Fiber.)

Heck - merely VoLTE has become ubiquitous in terms of smartphones, going from high-cost to no-cost (and taking out CDMA along the way).

(Consider no less than Verizon - once the largest CDMA cellular carrier on the planet - now it has NO CDMA deployed anywhere.)

[IsItPluggedIn]

On 09/10/2021 at 16:18, DocM said:

Good lord...should have expected this after Moscow shut down most independent  reporting of their space program.

 

 

I always love these outbursts, always a good chuckle.

 

If Starlink could actually intercept and divert ICBMs the US Military would be paying them the 20billion they are apparently receiving. "Oh no the USA is paying SpaceX 20B to protect USA from Russian ICBMs, those evil bastards"

 

Seems like Rogozin is just doing some good advertising for SpaceX with these claims.

[DocM]

StarLink going live this month, is talking to airlines...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DocM]

Hawaiian Airlines to offer free Starlink service

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/25/spacex-signs-hawaiian-airlines-for-free-starlink-wi-fi-on-flights.html

 

Quote

 

SpaceX’s Starlink to provide Wi-Fi on Hawaiian Airlines flights with free service for passengers

 

KEY POINTS

• SpaceX will start providing wireless internet on Hawaiian Airlines flights from the Starlink satellite network as early as next year, the airline said.

• Hawaiian told CNBC that it plans to offer Starlink service to passengers for free.

• The deal marks the first for Elon Musk’s space company with a major airline.

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[DocM]

Starlink ship and aircraft antennas

 

 

 

 

 

[DocM]

Starlink Maritime

 

 

 

[DocM]

Starlink Maritime is clearly a premium service for cruise ships, merchant marine, yachts, possibly military, etc.  Another license to print money.

 

Use case,

 

"Starlibk Increases SpaceX Recovery Fleet Throughput By  5900%, Reduces Costs By 70%

 

(PDF)

https://api.starlink.com/public-files/SpaceXNavyStarlink-case-study.pdf

 

[DocM]

Canada's De Havilland will be upgrading the Dash 8-400 with StarLink comms.

 

https://teslanorth.com/2022/07/18/spacex-signs-first-starlink-deal-with-an-aircraft-maker-de-havilland-canada/

 

[DocM]

Starlink brightness mitigation best practices (.pdf)

 

https://api.starlink.com/public-files/BrightnessMitigationBestPracticesSatelliteOperators.pdf

 

[DocM]

USAF Europe & USAF Africa buying Starlink service

 

https://www.airforcemag.com/multiple-air-force-units-buy-spacexs-starlink-satellite-internet-services/