The team behind SpaceX’s growing satellite internet network Starlink is in talks with “several” airlines to beam internet to their airplanes, the project’s vice president said during a conference panel on Wednesday. Expanding Starlink from rural homes and onto airlines is an expected move for Elon Musk’s space company as it races to open the broadband network commercially later this year.
“We’re in talks with several of the airlines,” Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX’s VP of Starlink and commercial sales, told a panel at the Connected Aviation Intelligence Summit on Wednesday. “We have our own aviation product in development… we’ve already done some demonstrations to date, and looking to get that product finalized to be put on aircraft in the very near future.”
Since 2018, SpaceX has launched nearly 1,800 Starlink satellites out of the roughly 4,400 it needs to provide global coverage of broadband internet, primarily for rural homes where fiber connections aren’t available. The company is in the midst of a Starlink beta phase that promises up to 100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload speeds, with tens of thousands of users so far. Most are paying $99 per month for internet under that beta, using a $499 bundle of a self-aligning Starlink dish and Wi-Fi router.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
I mean, I understand their resentment. It DOES help ruin the sky. I just feel granting access to the internet to the rest of the world is more important and find some of the arguments why this shouldn't be done to be a bit— what do those types call it— "problematic." Like, let's keep half the world in the dark and kept poorer because a bunch of rich nerds want their sky to be clean.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
Yuli Ban wrote: ↑Wed Jun 16, 2021 12:08 am
I mean, I understand their resentment. It DOES help ruin the sky. I just feel granting access to the internet to the rest of the world is more important and find some of the arguments why this shouldn't be done to be a bit— what do those types call it— "problematic." Like, let's keep half the world in the dark and kept poorer because a bunch of rich nerds want their sky to be clean.
I agree with you, Yuli. I even suggested to them that with the profits from Starlink, the Starship program may even help them ultimately establish a mega telescope on the Moon for a view of the stars not possible on Earth due to atmospheric disturbances, so they should support it. They'll be able to go to the Moon for the cost of an airline ticket. They just need to hold a long view.
To know is essentially the same as not knowing. The only thing that occurs is the rearrangement of atoms in your brain.
Elon Musk’s satellite network Starlink is on track to beam broadband internet everywhere in the world except the polar regions by August.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has launched more than 1,500 satellites so far and has Starlink operations in about a dozen countries, Musk said during a presentation at the Mobile World Congress conference on Tuesday. That’s costing a lot. SpaceX’s total investment in the network will be between $5 billion and $10 billion before cash flow is positive, he said.
Some $20 billion or $30 billion may be needed in the longer term to maintain Starlink’s competitive position, Musk added. The service, which has more than 69,000 active users, may reach half a million in the next 12 months, he said.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
Starlink Is Already Getting Close to Wired Broadband Speeds
By Ryan Whitwam on August 6, 2021 at 11:00 am
SpaceX has only been deploying satellites for its Starlink internet service for a couple of years, but it’s already putting traditional satellite internet to shame. According to the latest data from Ookla Speedtest, Starlink has seen substantial speed improvements that put it close to wired broadband. It’s even managed this while increasing subscriber counts by more than 25 percent.
For the uninformed, Starlink is one of several next-gen satellite internet systems. Elon Musk’s outfit is far in the lead thanks to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. This flight-proven vehicle can take 60 Starlink nodes into orbit at a time, and the costs are low thanks to the reusable design. As of now, Starlink has more than 1,600 functional satellites in various orbits, including some that are much lower than traditional satellite internet, which improves speed and latency compared to these solutions.
Amazon on Tuesday announced deals for scores of launches to deploy a "constellation" of satellites in low orbit around the Earth to provide internet service to people below.
Amazon said that its contracts with Arianespace, Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance (ULA) are the largest commercial procurement of launch vehicles in history.
The overall cost and timing of launches booked to make Amazon's Project Kuiper a reality were not disclosed.
"We still have lots of work ahead, but the team has continued to hit milestone after milestone across every aspect of our satellite system," Amazon senior vice president Dave Limp said in a statement.
"Project Kuiper will provide fast, affordable broadband to tens of millions of customers in unserved and underserved communities around the world."
US billionaire Elon Musk, head of the space company SpaceX, has already put more than 1,500 satellites into orbit to create a Starlink internet service network.
Late last year Boeing entered the space internet race, getting US authorization for satellites that will provide internet services from above.
It appears that the United States Air Force is also starting to see the value of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet system. Starlink was one of the options the US Air Force in Utah tested last week as a possible means to improve communications capabilities and support the operations of the F-35A Lightning II.
According to the US Air Force, the tests were aimed at evaluating and exploring high-speed communications in remote locations. After all, the flow of information is critical in a wartime environment, as highlighted by the performance of Starlink in Ukraine. Starlink has helped Ukraine stay connected to the internet amidst the Russian invasion, a factor that officials state has helped save numerous lives.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
French court revokes SpaceX's Starlink internet license, citing monopolization concerns
about 24 hours ago
The highest administrative court in France revoked SpaceX's license to provide internet services in the country via its Starlink megaconstellation, citing monopolization concerns due to the size and scale of the company's operations.
France's telecom regulator, Arcep, awarded SpaceX the license in February 2021 without first conducting a public consultation, the court determined.
The court appeal was led by two environmental organizations that cited possible impacts of the megaconstellation on the environment, including light pollution, space debris and also human health.
SpaceX has found its second partner for their upcoming Starlink-enabled direct satellite-to-cellular service. New Zealand’s telecommunications company, One NZ (formerly known as Vodafone), has announced it has signed an agreement with SpaceX to offer mobile coverage across the country, eliminating cellular dead zones. SpaceX announced the direct satellite-to-cellular service with T-mobile. T-Mobile has more than 109 million subscribers, of which 88 million are postpaid customers.
One New Zealand Group Limited, also known as One NZ (formerly known as Vodafone New Zealand Limited), is a New Zealand telecommunications company. One NZ is the largest wireless carrier in New Zealand, accounting for 40% of the country’s mobile share market in 2020. One NZ has 2.4 million customers. According to the Commerce Commission’s Annual Telecommunications Monitoring Report from March 2022, Vodafone’s market share in the mobile market was 38%, Spark 41% and Two Degrees Mobile 19%. The remainder of 2% the market is made up of mobile virtual network operators.
The Sateliot "GroundBreaker" is the first of a constellation of over 250 spacecraft.
SpaceX has launched what is reportedly the first satellite in low Earth orbit (LEO) to operate on the 5G cellular standard.
Known as "The GroundBreaker," the relatively small, 22-pound (10-kilogram) orbital data relay, designated Sateliot_0, is the first of a constellation of over 250 spacecraft designed to communicate with terrestrial cell towers and fill gaps in data networks worldwide.
A Falcon 9 rocket launched the satellite on April 15 from SpaceX's launch facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Barcelona-based Sateliot, the company behind The GroundBreaker and the Sateliot_X constellation network operator, sees the technology as an opportunity for a global realization for access to the Internet of Things (IoT).
With Starship in the limelight following its first orbital launch test, it can be easy to forget that Falcon 9 launches are still the core of SpaceX's business. The company launched yet another Falcon 9 this week, carrying 56 shiny new Starlink internet satellites. These aren't the larger V2 designs that rely on Starship, but they still pushed Starlink over a notable milestone. SpaceX now has more than 4,000 satellites in orbit.
The speed with which SpaceX has deployed Starlink is genuinely staggering. It's the single largest satellite operator in the world, with 4,023 Starlink nodes, 3,988 of which are currently operational. Before SpaceX started launching satellites dozens at a time, there were a little more than 2,000 total satellites. Today, we're over 8,000, and half of them belong to SpaceX.
This rapid deployment was only possible thanks to the Falcon 9, which pioneered reusability in rockets. After the Thursday launch, the Falcon 9 booster descended and landed safely on the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship, ready to be refurbished and flown again. This has lowered launch costs considerably, helping SpaceX cover most of the globe with satellite connectivity.
As impressive as Starlink is from an aerospace perspective, things on the ground are more complicated. After debuting with 100Mbps speeds, Starlink has slowed considerably as more users have subscribed. To cope with congestion, SpaceX recently started charging higher prices in regions with more demand. It also flirted with capping monthly usage at 1TB for residential customers. Thankfully, the company backtracked on the plan this week.
SpaceX Starlink Has Over 1.5 Million Customers
May 6, 2023 by Brian Wang
SpaceX was adding 150k Starlink users per month at the end of 2022. SpaceX has 1.5M subscribers now.
From Jan -Apr 2023, SpaceX had 30 launches. Although one of those was the Starship test.
Number of launches: 30 (Falcon 9: 27, Falcon Heavy: 2, Starship: 1T)
Launches success rate: 100%
Launch rate: 4.27 days (Needed for 100 launches: 3.65 or lower)
East Coast launches: 21 (LC-39A: 5, SLC-40: 16)
Gulf Coast launches: 1 (Starbase)
West Coast launches: 8 (SLC-4E)
Total payload mass: ~296,974 kg (Not including classified and rideshare missions)
SpaceX is completing a Texas Starlink factory that is 521,000 square feet and cost $43,000,000.
The SpaceX factory is designed for high volume manufacturing. It is to make millions of consumer facing devices. The Starlink Kit and include the antenna (or dish) that connects to the satellites, Wi-Fi routers and antenna mounting hardware.
SpaceX recently surpassed 1.5 million Starlink customers. Ramping dish production to 1-2 million per month to rapidly capture those customers is the only factor preventing SpaceX Starlink from getting to $30-60 billion per year in revenue early in 2024.
If SpaceX is able to increase Starlink satellite dish production to 500,000 dishes per month by September, 2023 then they could make 1 million in first half of 2023 and 2 million in the second half. This would nearly double the 2023 revenue projection for Starlink over Payload Space.
Starlink Mobility (RV and other users) has 300,000 customers who pay $2500 for installation and $250 per month. This is more than the $120 per month for regular residential. The higher charges for mobility/RV users and the higher estimate of Starlink mobility customers, the increase in residential charges of $10 per month, increases the conservative estimated Starlink 2023 revenue by about $1 billion to $17 billion.
If SpaceX is able to increase Starlink satellite dish production to 500,000 dishes per month by mid-2023 then they could make 1 million in first half of 2023 and 3 million in the second half. Every 2 million more residential Starlink customers adds $3 billion per year in runrate to revenue. 6 million more residential customers in 2024 would add $9 billion per year in revenue. SpaceX is finishing a Starlink dish factory in Texas which should massively increase Starlink dish production.
SpaceX's Starlink Satellites Are Leaking Radiation that Could Impact Radio Astronomy by Michele Starr
July 10, 2023
Introduction:
(Science Alert) Constellations of satellites swarming Earth's orbital skies are currently polluting wavelength bands that are supposed to be protected for radio astronomy.
According to new research, the electronics on board SpaceX's Starlink satellites are 'leaking' low-frequency radio waves, separate from their allocated downlink bands, in a way that could impact our ability to perform astronomy.
"This study represents the latest effort to better understand satellite constellations' impact on radio astronomy," says engineer Federico Di Vruno of the SKA Observatory and the International Astronomical Union.
Additional Extract:
There is, however, a solution already in the works. The researchers have contacted SpaceX, which is working on ways to reduce or remove this unintentional leakage. And although there are thousands of machines up there already, we're really only at the beginning of satellite constellation technology.
This makes satellite radio leakage a problem that has been caught relatively early. Future designs can be adjusted accordingly…
