SpaceX StarLink satellite internet [UPDATES]

[DocM]

Sounds like a SpaceX Starlink + T-Mobile collaboration will be announced Thursday night.

 

 

 

[DocM]

"Connectivity Above and Beyond"

 

Starlink Gen 2 satellites will include a much larger antenna, one which will be able to connect directly to cell phones in areas without coverage.

 

The T-Mobile CEO mentioned that it would be included in basic service, and if they are pursuing International reciprocal roaming.

 

I think the satellite phone people are going to have a really bad day.

 

https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/25/23320722/spacex-starlink-t-mobile-satellite-internet-mobile-messaging

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2022 by DocM

[DocM]

 

[DocM]

Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force may use Starlink 

 

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/08/22/national/sdf-starlink-communications/

 

Quote

 

Defense Ministry considering adopting Starlink communications system for SDF

 

The Defense Ministry is considering adopting the Starlink high-speed internet communications system, informed sources have said.

 

The ministry hopes to equip Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels engaged in long-term voyages with the system offered by U.S. aerospace company Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, to boost their telecommunications capabilities.

 

It aims to resolve the issue of manpower shortages in the MSDF by enabling crew members to communicate with their families using Starlink and hopefully reduce their stress while on voyages.

Related expenses will be included in the ministry’s budget request for fiscal 2023. The ministry will seek a swift implementation of the system.

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[DocM]

Starlink service reaches McMurdo Station, Antarctica. 

 

 

[DocM]

Starlink RV (bus, truck, tank...)

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1585050236120027137

 

[DocM]

FCC has granted approval for SpaceX to deploy 7,500 Starlink Gen 2's of the requested 29,988, and adding V-band to Ka-, Ku-, and E-band. The rest are deferred until orbital hand other objections have been dealt with.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/01/fcc-authorizes-spacex-gen2-starlink-up-to-7500-satellites.html

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KEY POINTS

• The FCC issued a key authorization to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, granting approval to launch up to 7,500 of its next-generation Starlink internet satellites.

• “Our action will allow SpaceX to begin deployment of Gen 2 Starlink,” the FCC wrote in the order.

• The decision is crucial to SpaceX’s plans to expand its satellite network.

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SpaceX is also required to coordinate with other satellite operators, as well as with NASA and the National Science Foundation to protect science missions and radioastronomy, respectively.

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[DocM]

Starlink Gen 2 starts launches December 28 with Starlink 5-1. Much larger satellites, nearly an order of magnitude more bandwidth and extended capabilities.

https://spacenews.com/spacex-preparing-to-start-starlink-gen2-launches-this-month/

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SpaceX preparing to start Starlink Gen2 launches this month

TAMPA, Fla. — SpaceX could start launching second-generation Starlink satellites in the coming weeks to add more capacity to its increasingly congested broadband network. 

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SpaceX told the FCC. 

Starlink has more than one million “active subscribers,” SpaceX tweeted Dec. 19, up from 250,000 the company said it had in March.

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SpaceX has plans to use Falcon 9 rockets and its upcoming Starship heavy-launch vehicle to deploy Gen2.

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Edited December 20, 2022 by DocM

[DocM]

Starlink wants to open service in South Korea, which probably has NK's  Kim family concerned...

https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20230113008600320?section=k-biz/index

[DocM]

More Starlink testing at the South Pole

https://twitter.com/icy_pete/status/1617016022468526080

 

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

On 15/01/2023 at 01:01, DocM said:

Starlink wants to open service in South Korea, which probably has NK's  Kim family concerned...

https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20230113008600320?section=k-biz/index

That would be good if Starlink unofficially worked in North Korea, hardware would eventually be smuggled in to make use of it I suspect.

I watched a documentary a few years ago that showed it was possible to use 3g internet from South Korea in certain places in the North, some North Koreans likely do have have uncensored internet access with that in mind.

[DocM]

Third generation StarLink antennas in testing

https://uk.pcmag.com/networking/145204/spacex-prepares-to-test-next-generation-starlink-dishes

Quote

 

On Tuesday, the FCC granted SpaceX a temporary license to test “new user-terminal hardware.” A document from the company adds the test will cover “next-generation phased array antennas” designed to connect to Starlink satellites.

The hardware will include both fixed position Starlink dishes and those that can be used in motion, such as on a car, boat, or plane. The company plans on testing up to 200 models, featuring dimensions “not to exceed 0.586 by 0.385" meters in size (23 inches by 15.1 inches).

That means hardware will be slightly larger than the second-gen Starlink dish for residential customers, which was introduced in November 2021. It too has a rectangular shape, but with the dimensions at 0.513 by 0.303 meters (20 inches by 11.9 inches). Meanwhile, the first-generation Starlink dish adopted a circular shape with a 23.2-inch diameter.

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[DocM]

Starlink + OZ's Royal Flying Doctors Service

https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/spacexs-starlink-signs-deals-with-flying-doctor-service-and-tototheo-maritime/

Quote

SpaceX’s satellite unit Starlink has signed new deals with Australia’s Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) and maritime communications provider Tototheo Maritime.

The RFDS will use Starlink’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications services to provide connectivity to healthcare providers in rural Queensland, while Tototheo will resell services to ship operators within the merchant shipping, offshore, yachting, and fishing industries.

 

[DocM]

USAF using Starlink in indo-Pacific

https://www.stripes.com/branches/air_force/2023-03-21/starlink-spacex-air-force-communications-9558606.html

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Starlink satellites are boosting Air Force communication across the Indo-Pacific

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A Starlink terminal set up inside a C-130J Super Hercules airlifter at Yokota allowed [Maj. Gen. John] Klein to video conference with an airman who was using a Starlink terminal on Diego Garcia, an island more than 5,000 miles away in the Indian Ocean.

The system could be used by contingency response forces such as those who deployed to Afghanistan to evacuate U.S. troops and civilians in August 2021, Klein said after the demonstration.

“I was extremely impressed with the capability,” he told Stars and Stripes on Tuesday as he prepared to depart Yokota. “We are looking to give our units throughout the Pacific the ability to communicate with command-and-control entities. They are evolving to do that in support of agile combat employment.”

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The Air Force has its own satellite internet system called Hawkeye that’s a lot more expensive and slower, Flores added. A Hawkeye dish costs $250,000 and provides internet speeds of 4 megabytes per second, he said.

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[DocM]

Starlink to Cellular

A permit for testing satellite connections to unmodified cell phones. Essentially, cell towers in space.

The US and other nations have been setting up the regulatory framework for services like this, so expect more of the same with operations sooner than you might think.

SpaceX has the lead due to the size of their Starlink satellite constellation and partnerships with international telecoms.

FCC filing...

"Space Exploration Holdings, LLC (“SpaceX”), pursuant to Section 25.120 of the Commission’s rules, hereby requests Special Temporary Authority (“STA”) for sixty (60) days beginning December 1, 2023 to launch and test its non-geostationary orbit (“NGSO”) second generation (“Gen2”) satellites1 with direct-to-cellular communications payloads to connect unmodified cellular phones directly to SpaceX Gen2 satellites, subject to the conditions set forth in the Gen2 Order granting SpaceX authority to launch and operate 7,500 satellites. This STA is necessary as the Commission continues to process SpaceX’s application to enable supplemental coverage from space (“SCS”) for consumers on a permanent basis and would permit SpaceX to timely launch its first tranche of direct-to-cellular-enabled satellites in December 2023"

[DocM]

John Deere goes Starlink

John Deere, Meet Elon Musk: SpaceX Satellites to Link Farm Giant’s Equipment

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Farm machinery maker hires SpaceX’s Starlink service to provide satellite internet connections for tractors, harvesters and crop sprayers in remote areas.

Deere said it would tap SpaceX’s satellite fleet to propel the tractor maker’s digital farming push and help automate planting and harvesting in remote locations.

The world’s largest farm machinery manufacturer signed a deal with SpaceX’s Starlink business to connect tractors, seed planters, crop sprayers and other equipment in areas that lack adequate internet service,

 

[DocM]

1) Kazakhstan will be allowing Starlink service. I can't imagine Russia being too pleased with this. They've been trying to jam starlink for almost 2 years in Ukraine with no cigar.

https://en.trend.az/casia/kazakhstan/3852697.html

2) US DoD is expanding commercial satellite communications to the tune of $900 million, a lot of which sounds like it's going to Starlink (most likely its Starshield division).

https://spacenews.com/dods-satcom-evolution/

[TrevorLahey]

On 24/01/2024 at 23:07, DocM said:

1) Kazakhstan will be allowing Starlink service. I can't imagine Russia being too pleased with this. They've been trying to jam starlink for almost 2 years in Ukraine with no cigar.

 

[DocM]

[Starlink adds] "~2.2 Tbps of capacity" per launch.

 SpaceX plans about 150 launches in 2024, and the vast majority will be Starlink.

 

[DocM]

More about SpaceX booster landings in the Bahamas

53° seems to indicate these are D2D (direct to device) satellites with antennas for cellular devices: phones, tablets, etc. in black zones (no service areas). Satphone companies will not like this.

https://twitter.com/Alexphysics13/status/1760413312548733161

"This announcement came right as the company has started to file FCC permits for Starlink launches from the Cape using this new landing location in the middle of the Bahamas. Would be interesting to see if this could lead to other future agreements of the same sort🤔

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These missions are essentially Starlink missions that go to the 53 degree shell of the Starlink Gen 2 constellation. To reach this orbital inclination without this special landing location would mean performing a dogleg around Bahamas that would reduce Falcon 9's performance

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For this reason, these mission are currently only carried out from Vandenberg where there's only a teeny tiny dogleg. But now with this new landing location it means Falcon 9 can avoid having to perform a dogleg and go straight to 53 degrees in one go without losing performance."

[DocM]

Starlink; $6.6 billion in revenue for 2024, 2.7 million subscribers, 75 countries

And this doesn't even count the Starshield program for government and military use, which is based on Starlink

Starlink history posts by Tom Mueller, the engineer who designed Falcon 9's Merlin engine. They knew it was going to be a big money maker from the start 

 

 

 

[DocM]

United Airlines will use Starlink for free Wi-Fi 

 

 

[DocM]

More about United Airlines switching to SpaceX's  Starlink satellite internet satellites for passenger Wi-Fi. Higher bandwidth, less latency.

https://spacenews.com/united-airlines-bumps-geo-operators-off-fleet-for-starlink-wi-fi/