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To: lightman
He needs 7000 to build his network...at this rate he will need 109 more SUCCESSFUL launches.

I'm wondering if he has enough up yet to start offering limited service to select customers, like ships at sea?

34 posted on 06/04/2020 8:28:00 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 ("Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." -- Voltaire)
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To: PapaBear3625

Ships at sea will have to wait for second generation starlink with the laser links. Right now the sats have to be in range of not only the mobile transceiver but also a gateway at the same time and continuously. This is due to the first gen birds only having gateway antennas and no sat to sat laser links. The fcc has allowed starlink to use 22 gateways so far and some are near the coasts so for limited offshore range like inside our 12 mile limits it might work. The footprint of a LEO bird is around 1200km in diameter so assuming you have a bird directly above a gateway on the coast and a transceiver offshore 600km would be about max range offshore without some gateways on ships or large discus buoys which Musk has talked about doing for the north Atlantic great circle aircraft corridor. the FAA already has 12 wide meter deep water bouys for vhf aircraft coms over the gulf of Mexico that survive hurricane sized waves. so that tech could be anchored in the north Atlantic for a down up hop gateway to link north America to Europe. These bouys have solar panels and back diesel engine with a multiyear lifespan putting two gateway antennas would form a down up link to two birds linking them in a daisy chain across the Atlantic. Any ships within 600km of each of the bouys could tie in.


39 posted on 06/04/2020 7:27:25 PM PDT by JD_UTDallas ("Veni Vidi Vici")
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