Posted on 04/07/2021 6:22:03 AM PDT by billorites
In the next few months, SpaceX could have more than 1,600 of its Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit, and that may be enough for the nascent broadband service to reach just about anywhere in the world.
"After about 28 launches, we'll have continuous coverage throughout the globe," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said Tuesday during an online panel discussion for the Satellite 2021 LEO Digital Forum.
The 23rd operational Starlink launch is set for Wednesday. That means we're about a half dozen launches away from the point Shotwell describes. SpaceX has already successfully conducted seven dedicated Starlink launches in 2021 so far (along with 10 more of the satellites on the Transporter-1 rideshare).
The pace of launches looks to be slower in April, but the company should easily reach 28 launches in a matter of months.
That would seem to be a more optimistic timeline than what founder Elon Musk predicted in February, when he said the aim was coverage for "most of Earth by end of year, all by next year."
Shotwell added that once SpaceX has enough Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit to reach anywhere on the planet, future launches become about adding satellites to increase the capacity of the network. She also made the bold prediction that Starlink will be able to serve every rural household in the United States within three to five years.
Starlink has been in a beta test since October, steadily expanding to more countries and regions around the world.
Shotwell didn't reveal any specifics about how long the trial period will last, saying the company is currently working to increase reliability and reduce connectivity drop-outs. She said Starlink will move out of beta "when we have a really great product that we are proud of."
Shotwell also said SpaceX has no plans for tiered pricing for Starlink. She did not say if the beta test rate of $99 per month (£72, AU$129) will remain, but did note that the cost of the terminal is expected to come down substantially over the next couple of years.
SpaceX has said it costs the company about $1,500 (roughly £1,085, AU$1,958) to make each user terminal, but beta testers are only asked to pay $499 (£360, AU$652). Shotwell says that cost should come all the way down to just a few hundred dollars per terminal, which could significantly reduce the upfront investment to sign up for the service.
Except for the fingernails.
I'm kind of guessing the answer is yes for two reasons. One, they wouldn't want to be seen as contributing to pollution both in the air from what might burn up and in the ocean for what might not. Two, their engineers will no-doubt want to take it apart and examine it for wear and tear. I remember talking to a couple of their engineers a few months before they successfully recovered their first booster. They were not going to re-fly that one, but rather tear it down to look for what was close to failure after a flight.
I imagine something similar will happen after they get one that has completed it's entire design life. They'll take a look and see what components are maybe over-designed, or possibly evaluate if it is safe to up the lifetime to 11 or 12 launches...
Speaking of design life, and getting back to Starlink... What is the design life of the little sats? I seem to remember it is measured in a few months for the initial set, and something like a year or two for the current gen? That would mean SpaceX would have to maintain a fairly consistent pace of launches to replace sats going out of service or expand coverage & bandwidth.
We got our Starlink dish up and running about 3 weeks ago.
We had microwave internet before and the big problem was slow speed and frequent packet loss which lead to very unreliable downloads of larger files, like system updates.
Starlink is not perfect, but it is worth the monthly cost for sure. The old internet was $80 for an advertised 12 Mbps which was an actual 8. Every time I test Starlink it is 40 to 150 Mbps and latency is 40-80 ms. All for $100/month.
To me, the $500 initial cost was worth it.
Howard Hughes?
Yes. That’s probably the best analog.
Interestingly, with reputations for dating beautiful starlets and speaking their minds, their personal lives aren’t all that dissimilar either.
What’s the data cap, if you don’t mind me asking?
And changed the world.
Looking forward to this. I would even be happy to pay more to know I am not supporting Verizon. I don’t have TV, but it is impossible to get internet only. So I am paying for stupid local TV that I don’t watch on their “internet only” package.
Yes, but for better or worse is debatable................
We would still have cars had Ford been a jew.
Same here, but I haven’t received anything yet. Signed up and paid the $99 at the end of February.
At this time, there is no data cap.
I have read rumors of a future intent to institute a data cap, but they are unconfirmed internet ramblings at this point.
Maybe Elon knows, but he isn't telling. And maybe he doesn't know...
All things considered, that’s a pretty competitive price for a lot of markets, if the download speeds really are as advertised. Where I live, it wouldn’t be a good deal at all. But, we have a reasonable number of broadband service providers available to us. I’ve got some family that live in suburban OH and they pay an astronomical price (close to $200/mo)for only 100 Mbps.
I clicked on the map and saw some stats........
The Antenna required has a five foot diameter.
This is simply not true. All the antennae are the same and are about 18" in diameter. The active face is flat and the back is dished. That is the antenna I am using right now to send this post.
They are covered with a matte white material which looks sort of like a swimming pool liner.
I would not ever call it an attractive device, but as antennae go it is not as obtrusive as many.
I feel better with your first hand account. I clicked on the map and here’s what I got
cy City, TN
✕
* map link
Antenna count: 8
Antenna diameter: 5 feet
Antenna manufacturer: SpaceX
Uplink: 2.1 GHz total (27.5-29.1, 29.5-30 GHz)
Downlink: 1.3 GHz total (17.8-18.6, 18.8-19.3 GHz)
Date filed: 2020-09-01
https://fcc.report/IBFS/SES-LIC-20200903-
I think what you found is the ground station where the rest of the internet exchanges information with the satellites.
This is going to be a little antenna farm with multiple antennae communicating with multiple satellites at the same time. Probably in a light industrial area. Chain link fence around it, a small building housing electronics, and some parking for techs. The one you linked to has 8 dishes to uplink to the satellites. And a very fast fiber optic connection to the internet.
While these ground stations are not top secret, they are a vulnerable point in the system and their addresses or exact locations are closely held to prevent attacks or just plain old vandalism.
Right now the system works so there is only one satellite between your home dish and the rest of the internet. This is OK for land areas where a ground station every few hundred miles is feasible. Over the ocean, or in very remote areas, the satellites will eventually learn to relay signals between each other. this is a far more complicated situation and will take time to develop.
From early April.
OTOH, the SN15 launch has been scrubbed again. Sounds like they’re within an nth of gettin’ it done, and the boss doesn’t want any more RUDs and surprises.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sn15
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