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Wikipedia

Starlink

January 28, 2023

This article is about the SpaceX satellite internet service. For other uses, see Starlink (disambiguation).

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX,[3] providing satellite Internet access coverage to 45 countries. It also aims for global mobile phone service after 2023.[4] SpaceX started launching Starlink satellites in 2019. As of December 2022, Starlink consists of over 3,300 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO),[5] which communicate with designated ground transceivers. In total, nearly 12,000 satellites are planned to be deployed, with a possible later extension to 42,000. SpaceX announced reaching more than one million subscribers in December 2022.[6]

Starlink
60 Starlink satellites stacked together before deployment on 24 May 2019
ManufacturerSpaceX
Country of originUnited States
OperatorSpaceX
ApplicationsInternet service
Websitestarlink.com
Specifications
Spacecraft typeSmall satellite
Launch mass
  • v 0.9: 227 kg (500 lb)
  • v 1.0: 260 kg (570 lb)
  • v 1.5: ~306 kg (675 lb)[1]
  • v 2.0: ~1,250 kg (2,760 lb)[2]
Equipment
Regime
Production
StatusActive

The SpaceX satellite development facility in Redmond, Washington houses the Starlink research, development, manufacturing, and orbit control teams. The cost of the decade-long project to design, build, and deploy the constellation was estimated by SpaceX in May 2018 to be at least US$10 billion.[7] SpaceX expects more than $30 billion in revenue by 2025 from its satellite constellation, while revenues from its launch business were expected to reach $5 billion in the same year.[8][9]

Astronomers have raised concerns about the effect the constellation can have on ground-based astronomy and how the satellites will add to an already congested orbital environment.[10][11] SpaceX has attempted to mitigate astronomy concerns by implementing several upgrades to Starlink satellites aimed at reducing their brightness during operation.[12] The satellites are equipped with krypton-fueled Hall thrusters which allow them to de-orbit at the end of their life. Additionally, the satellites are designed to autonomously avoid collisions based on uplinked tracking data.[13]

History

Background

Constellations of low Earth orbit satellites were first conceptualized in the mid-1980s as part of the Strategic Defense Initiative, culminating in Brilliant Pebbles, where weapons were to be staged in orbit to intercept ballistic missiles on short notice. The potential for low-latency communication was also recognized and development offshoots in the 1990s led to numerous commercial megaconstellations using around 100 satellites such as Celestron, Teledesic, Iridium, and Globalstar. However all entities entered bankruptcy by the dot-com bubble burst, due in part to excessive launch costs at the time.[14][15]

In 2004, Larry Williams, SpaceX VP of strategic relations and former VP of Teledesic's "Internet in the sky" program, opened the SpaceX Washington DC office.[16] That June, SpaceX acquired a stake in Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) as part of a "shared strategic vision".[17] SSTL was at that time working to extend the Internet into space.[18] However, SpaceX's stake was eventually sold back to EADS Astrium in 2008 after the company became more focused on navigation and Earth observation.[19]

In early 2014, Elon Musk and Greg Wyler were reportedly working together planning a constellation of around 700 satellites called WorldVu, which would be over 10 times the size of the then largest Iridium satellite constellation.[20] However, these discussions broke down in June 2014, and SpaceX instead filed an ITU application via the Norway telecom regulator under the name STEAM.[21] SpaceX confirmed the connection in the 2016 application to license Starlink with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).[22] SpaceX trademarked the name Starlink in the United States for their satellite broadband network;[23] the name was inspired by the book The Fault in Our Stars.[24]

Development phase (2015–2020)

 
The SpaceX satellite development facility, Redmond, Washington, in use from 2015 to mid-2018

Starlink was publicly announced in January 2015 with the opening of the SpaceX satellite development facility in Redmond, Washington. During the opening, Elon Musk stated there is still significant unmet demand worldwide for low-cost broadband capabilities.[25][26] and that Starlink would target bandwidth to carry up to 50% of all backhaul communications traffic, and up to 10% of local Internet traffic, in high-density cities.[27][28] Elon further stated that the positive cash flow from selling satellite internet services would be necessary to fund their Mars plans.[29] Furthermore, SpaceX has long-term plans to develop and deploy a version of the satellite communication system to serve Mars.[30]

Starting with 60 engineers, the company operated in 2,800 m2 (30,000 sq ft) of leased space, and by January 2017 had taken on a 2,800 m2 (30,000 sq ft) second facility, both in Redmond.[31] In August 2018, SpaceX consolidated all their Seattle-area operations with a move to a larger three-building facility at Redmond Ridge Corporate Center to support satellite manufacturing in addition to R&D.[32] In July 2016, SpaceX acquired an additional 740 m2 (8,000 sq ft) creative space in Irvine, California (Orange County).[33] The Irvine office would include signal processing, RFIC, and ASIC development for the satellite program.[34]

By October 2016, the satellite division was focusing on a significant business challenge of achieving a sufficiently low-cost design for the user equipment. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said then that the project remained in the "design phase as the company seeks to tackle issues related to user-terminal cost".[35]

In November 2016, SpaceX filed an application with the FCC for a "non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite system in the Fixed-Satellite Service using the Ku- and Ka- frequency bands".[36]

In March 2017, SpaceX filed plans with the FCC to field a second orbital shell of more than 7,500 "V-band satellites in non-geosynchronous orbits to provide communications services" in an electromagnetic spectrum that has not previously been heavily employed for commercial communications services. Called the "Very-Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) constellation",[37] it was to have comprised 7,518 satellites that were to orbit at just 340 km (210 mi) altitude,[38] while the smaller, originally planned group of 4,425 satellites would operate in the Ka- and Ku-bands and orbit at 1,200 km (750 mi) altitude.[37][38] In the event, by 2022 SpaceX had withdrawn plans to field the 7518-satellite V-band system superseding in with a more comprehensive second-generation (Gen2) Starlink satellite design.[39]

In September 2017, the FCC ruled that half of the constellation must be in orbit within six years to comply with licensing terms, while the full system should be in orbit within nine years from the date of the license.[40]

SpaceX filed documents in late 2017 with the FCC to clarify their space debris mitigation plan, under which the company was to:

"...implement an operations plan for the orderly de-orbit of satellites nearing the end of their useful lives (roughly five to seven years) at a rate far faster than is required under international standards. [Satellites] will de-orbit by propulsively moving to a disposal orbit from which they will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere within approximately one year after completion of their mission."[41]

 
Falcon 9 lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), Florida, delivering 60 Starlink satellites to orbit on 11 November 2019.

In March 2018, the FCC granted SpaceX approval for the initial 4,425 satellites, with some conditions. SpaceX would need to obtain a separate approval from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).[42][43] The FCC supported a NASA request to ask SpaceX to achieve an even higher level of de-orbiting reliability than the standard that NASA had previously used for itself: reliably de-orbiting 90% of the satellites after their missions are complete.[44]

In May 2018, SpaceX expected the total cost of development and buildout of the constellation to approach $10 billion.[7] In mid-2018, SpaceX reorganized the satellite development division in Redmond, and terminated several members of senior management.[32]

In November 2018, SpaceX received U.S. regulatory approval to deploy 7,518 V-band broadband satellites, in addition to the 4,425 approved earlier;[45][46] however, the V-band plans were subsequently withdrawn by 2022.[39] At the same time, SpaceX also made new regulatory filings with the U.S. FCC to request the ability to alter its previously granted license in order to operate approximately 1,600 of the 4,425 Ka-/Ku-band satellites approved for operation at 1,150 km (710 mi) in a "new lower shell of the constellation" at only 550 km (340 mi)[47] orbital altitude.[48][49] These satellites would effectively operate in a third orbital shell, a 550 km (340 mi) orbit, while the higher and lower orbits at approximately 1,200 km (750 mi) and approximately 340 km (210 mi) would be used only later, once a considerably larger deployment of satellites becomes possible in the later years of the deployment process. The FCC approved the request in April 2019, giving approval to place nearly 12,000 satellites in three orbital shells: initially approximately 1,600 in a 550 km (340 mi) – altitude shell, and subsequently placing approximately 2,800 Ku- and Ka-band spectrum satellites at 1,150 km (710 mi) and approximately 7,500 V-band satellites at 340 km (210 mi).[50] In total, nearly 12,000 satellites were planned to be deployed, with (as of 2019) a possible later extension to 42,000.[51]

In February 2019, a sister company of SpaceX, SpaceX Services Inc., filed a request with the FCC to receive a license for the operation of up to a million fixed satellite Earth stations that would communicate with its non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite Starlink system.[52]

In June 2019, SpaceX applied to the FCC for a license to test up to 270 ground terminals – 70 nationwide across the United States and 200 in Washington state at SpaceX employee homes[53][54] – and aircraft-borne antenna operation from four distributed United States airfields; as well as five ground-to-ground test locations.[55][56]

By late 2019, SpaceX was transitioning their satellite efforts from research and development to manufacturing, with the planned first launch of a large group of satellites to orbit, and the clear need to achieve an average launch rate of "44 high-performance, low-cost spacecraft built and launched every month for the next 60 months" to get the 2,200 satellites launched to support their FCC spectrum allocation license assignment.[57] SpaceX said they will meet the deadline of having half the constellation "in orbit within six years of authorization... and the full system in nine years".[50]

On 15 October 2019, the United States FCC submitted filings to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on SpaceX's behalf to arrange spectrum for 30,000 additional Starlink satellites to supplement the 12,000 Starlink satellites already approved by the FCC.[58] That month, Elon Musk publicly tested the Starlink network by using an Internet connection routed through the network to post a first tweet to social media site Twitter.[59]

In November 2020, Starlink beta internet service was opened to the public.[60] Starlink beta testers reported speeds over 150 megabits per second, above the range announced for the public beta test.[61]

Commercial service (2021–)

 
Starlink user terminal with dish, as shipped in early 2021

In February 2021, SpaceX opened up pre-orders to the public.[62] SpaceX completed raising an additional $3.5 billion in equity financing over the previous six months,[63][64] to support the capital-intensive phase of the operational fielding of Starlink, plus the development of the Starship launch system.[63] In April 2021, SpaceX clarified that they have already tested two generations of Starlink technology, with the second one having been less expensive than the first. The third generation, with laser inter-satellite links, is expected to begin launching "in the next few months [and will be] much less expensive than earlier versions".[63]

On 6 November 2020, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada announced regulatory approval for the Starlink low Earth orbit satellite constellation.[65]

The FCC initially awarded SpaceX with $885.5 million worth of federal subsidies to support rural broadband customers through the company's Starlink satellite Internet network. SpaceX won subsidies to bring service to customers in 35 U.S. states.[66] The $885.5 million aid package was revoked in August 2022, with the FCC stating that Starlink "failed to demonstrate" its ability to deliver the promised service.[67] SpaceX later appealed the decision saying they met or surpassed all RDOF deployment requirements that existed during bidding and that the FCC created "new standards that no bidder could meet today".[68]

In March 2021, SpaceX put an application into FCC for mobile variations of their terminal for vehicles, vessels and aircraft.[69][70]

In May 2021, SpaceX announced agreements with Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure to provide on-ground compute and networking services for Starlink.[71] Viasat made a legal attempt to temporarily halt Starlink launches.[72] In June 2021, SpaceX applied to the FCC to use mobile Starlink transceivers on launch vehicles flying to Earth orbit, after having previously tested high-altitude low-velocity mobile use on a rocket prototype in May 2021.[73]

By 1 October 2021, SpaceX had sold 5000 Starlink preorders in India,[74] and announced that Sanjay Bhargava, who had worked with Elon Musk as part of a team that founded electronic payment firm PayPal, would head the tech billionaire entrepreneur's Starlink satellite broadband venture in India.[75] Three months later, Bhargava resigned "for personal reasons" following the Indian government ordering SpaceX to halt selling preorders for Starlink service until SpaceX gains regulatory approval for providing satellite internet services in the country.[74]

In 2022 SpaceX announced the Starlink Business service tier, a higher performance edition of the service. It provides a larger high-performance antenna and listed speeds of between 150 and 500 Mbit/s, with a cost of $2500 for the antenna and a $500 monthly service fee.[76] The service includes 24/7, prioritized support.[76] Deliveries are advertised to begin in the second quarter of 2022.[77] The FCC also approved the licensing of Starlink services to boats, aircraft, and moving vehicles.[78] Starlink terminal production being delayed by the 2020–present global chip shortage led to only 5,000 subscribers for the first two months of 2022 but this was soon resolved.[79]

According to Ookla, between Q1 and Q2 2022, Starlink speeds decreased worldwide as more people signed up for Starlink, although SpaceX has said that Starlink speeds will improve once more satellites are operational.[80]

In May 2022, Starlink entered the Philippine market, as the company's first deployment in Asia, due to a landmark legislative change (RA 11659, Public Services Act) about all-foreign allowance of company ownership in regards to utility entities such as internet and telco companies. Starlink was able to obtain a provisional permission from the country's Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DICT), National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and soon began commercial services, aimed at regions with lower internet connectivity.[81]

Also in May 2022, Chinese military researchers published an article in a peer-reviewed journal describing a strategy for destroying the Starlink constellation if they threaten national security.[82][83][84] The researchers specifically highlight concerns with reported Starlink military capabilities. Musk later announced that "Starlink is meant for peaceful use... to mend the fault in our stars",[85] referencing a quote from Julius Caesar, "Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings." Suggesting Starlink could create peace by taking strategic initiative. The head of Russia's space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, had earlier warned Musk that "you will have to answer in an adult way, Elon, no matter how you play the fool."[86]

In 2022, SpaceX unveiled new variants of the Starlink service. On 23 May 2022, SpaceX rolled out Starlink For RVs, a service that lets customers pay more to skip waitlists to connect to its broadband satellites without a fixed address, although connection speeds for other users will be prioritized.[87] On 7 July 2022 SpaceX announced Starlink Maritime, to help support users, and companies, on the ocean. Only working on the water, unable to work on land, the advertised speed for the service is set up to 350 Mbps. However it comes at the one time price of $10,000 for the two user terminals, and $5,000 monthly price.[88][89]

In August 2022, SpaceX secured its first contract for services in the passenger shipping industry. Royal Caribbean Group has added Starlink internet to Freedom of the Seas and plans to offer the service on 50 ships under its Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea Cruises brands by March 2023.[78] Starlink services on private jet charter flights in the US by JSX are expected to begin in late 2022, and Hawaiian Airlines has contracted to provide "Starlink services on transpacific flights to and from Hawaii in 2023."[78]

In September 2022, SpaceX sent out an email to users with pre-orders about a service called Best Effort. It allows those still waiting in a full capacity cell to receive the unused bandwidth of their cell, while still being on the waiting list for more prioritized service. The price and equipment are the same as the residential service coming in at $110 per month.[90][91] In December, a monthly 1TB data cap was introduced to subscribers.[92]

On 1 December 2022, the FCC issued an approval for SpaceX to launch the initial 7500 satellites for its second-generation (Gen2) constellation, in three low-Earth-orbit orbital shells, at 525, 530, and 535 km altitude. Overall, SpaceX had requested approval for as many as 29,988 Gen2 satellites, with approximately 10,000 in the 525–535 km altitude shells, plus ~20,000 in 340–360 km shells and nearly 500 in 604–614-km shells. However, the FCC noted that this is not a net increase in approved on-orbit satellites for SpaceX since SpaceX is no longer planning to deploy 7518 V-band satellites at 340 km (210 mi) altitude that had previously been authorized.[39]

Services

Satellite internet

 
Starlink antenna dish (user terminal), assembled, 2021
 
Starlink WiFi Router

Starlink provides satellite-based internet connectivity to underserved areas of the planet, as well as competitively priced service in more urbanized areas.[93]

In the United States, Starlink charges a one-time hardware fee of $599 for a user terminal and $110 per month for internet service at a fixed service address location.[94] An additional $25 per month allows the user terminal to move beyond a fixed location (Starlink For RVs) but with service speeds deprioritized compared to the fixed users in that area.[95] Fixed users are told to expect typical throughput of "50 Mbps to 150 Mbps and latency from 20 ms to 40 ms".[96] A higher performance version of the service (Starlink Business) advertises speeds of 150 to 500 Mbps in exchange for a more costly $2,500 user terminal and a $500 monthly service fee.[76] Another service called Starlink Maritime became available in July 2022 providing internet access on the open ocean, with speeds of 350 Mbps, requiring purchase of a maritime-grade $10,000 user terminal and a $5,000 monthly service fee.[97][98]

Sales are capped to a few hundred fixed users per 20 km "service cell area" due to limited wireless capacity. Starlink alternatively offers a Best Effort service tier allowing homes in capped areas to receive the current unused bandwidth of their cell while they are on the waiting list for more prioritized service. The price and equipment are the same as the residential service at $110 per month.[99][100] To improve the service quality in densely populated areas, Starlink introduced a monthly 1TB data cap for all non-business users which became enforced in 2023.[101]

In August 2022 SpaceX lowered monthly service costs for users in select countries.[102] For example, users in Brazil and Chile saw monthly fee decreases of about 50%.[103]

As of December 2022, Starlink has over one million active subscribers.[6][104]

Month Number of
subscribers 		Source
Feb. 2021 ≈ 10,000 [105]
June 2021 ≈ 100,000 [106]
Feb. 2022 ≈ 250,000
May 2022 ≈ 400,000
June 2022 ≈ 500,000 [104]
Sep. 2022 ≈ 700,000 [107]
Dec. 2022 ≈ 1,000,000 [6]

Satellite cellular service

For a future service, T-Mobile US and SpaceX are partnering to add satellite cellular service capability to Starlink satellites. It will provide dead-zone cell phone coverage across the US using existing midband PCS spectrum that T-Mobile owns.[108][109] Cell coverage will begin with messaging and expand to include voice and limited data services later, with testing to begin in 2023. T-Mobile plans to connect to Starlink satellites via existing mobile devices, unlike previous generations of satellite phones which used specialized radios, modems, and antennas to connect to satellites in higher orbits.[4] Bandwidth will be limited to approximately 2 to 4 megabits per second total, split across a very large cell coverage area; so limited to approximately 1,000 voice callers in a cell. The size of a single coverage cell has not yet been publicly released, but the satellites are 7 meters long, and the antenna would fold out to be "roughly 25 square meters".[108]

Military satellites

 
Elon Musk and four-star general Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy in April 2019.
 
Under Secretary of Defense Research and Engineering Michael D. Griffin meets with Elon Musk in 2005.

In 2018 the Space Development Agency (SDA) was formed as part of a Trump Administration push to resurrect the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).[110][111] SDA accelerates development of missile defense capabilities using industry-procured low-cost low Earth orbit satellite platforms.[112] The program was conceived and instituted by Under Secretary of Defense (R&E) Michael D. Griffin (who had decades earlier joined Elon Musk on his trip to Russia to examine ICBMs as part of SpaceX's founding).[113] A few months after Space Development Agency was announced, SpaceX Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell was asked by the United States Air Force, given the nature of the program, whether SpaceX would launch weapons into space for the US military. She affirmed "we would if it's for the defense of this country."[114]

In October 2020, SDA awarded SpaceX an initial $150 million dual-use contract to develop a deluxe military version of the Starlink satellite bus.[115] The first batch of satellites were originally scheduled to launch September 2022 to form part of the Tracking Layer (Tranche 0) of the Space Force's National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA).[116] However, the launch schedule slipped multiple times and is currently scheduled for March 2023."[117][118]

The NDSA will be composed of seven layers with specific functions: data transport, battle management, missile tracking, custody/weapons targeting, satellite navigation, deterrence, and ground support.[119][120] Historically, space-based missile defense concepts (e.g., Brilliant Pebbles) were expensive, but reusable launch systems have mitigated costs according to a 2019 Congressional Budget Office analysis.[121] NSDA leverages existing commercial satellite bus development such as Starlink to reduce costs, including free-space optical laser terminals for a secure command and control mesh network.[122] The 2019 Missile Defense Review notes space-based sensing enables "improved tracking and potentially targeting of advanced threats, including HGVs and hypersonic cruise missiles".[123] " However, the Union of Concerned Scientists warns developments could escalate tensions with Russia and China and called the project "fundamentally destabilizing".[124] The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace later advocated for a treaty halting development to prevent an arms race in space.[125]

Starlink's military satellite development is overseen internally at SpaceX by retired four-star general Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy.[126][127] O'Shaughnessy advocated before the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services for a layered capability with lethal follow-on that incorporates machine learning and artificial intelligence to gather and act upon sensor data quickly.[128]

Starshield program

In December 2022, SpaceX announced Starshield, a program to incorporate military or government entity payloads onboard a customized satellite bus (potentially based on Starlink Block v1.5 and v2.0 technology[129][better source needed]). These satellites are heavier, with twice the area as a single Starlink v1.5 and have two pair of solar arrays as opposed to one on Starlink Block v1.5.[130] While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use, Starshield is designed for US government use, with an initial focus on three areas, namely, earth observation, communications and hosting payloads.

Designed to meet diverse mission requirements, Starshield satellites are advertised as capable of integrating a wide variety of payloads, offering unique versatility to users. Starshield satellites will be compatible with, and interconnect to, the existing commercial Starlink satellites via optical inter-satellite links.[131]

In January 2022, SpaceX deployed four national security satellites for the US government on their Transporter-3 rideshare mission.[129][132] In the same year they launched another group of four U.S. satellites with a single on-orbit spare Globalstar FM-15 satellite in June.[133][129][134][135] Their purpose was not disclosed at the time of launch, but was considered likely either technical demonstration, communications, earth observation or signals intelligence.

It is suspected the four SpaceX-built Tranche 0 Tracking Layer satellites due to launch in Q1 2023 are also based on the Starshield satellite bus.[136]

Military communications

In 2019, tests by the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) demonstrated a 610 Mbit/s data link through Starlink to a Beechcraft C-12 Huron aircraft in flight.[137] Additionally, in late 2019, the United States Air Force successfully tested a connection with Starlink on an AC-130 Gunship.[138]

In 2020, United States Air Force utilized Starlink in support of its Advanced Battlefield management system during a live-fire exercise. They demonstrated Starlink connected to a "variety of air and terrestrial assets" including the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker.[139]

Use in Ukraine

 
Vitali Klitschko, Mayor of Kyiv, and his brother Wladimir Klitschko with Starlink terminals shipped to Kyiv during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
Main article: Starlink satellite services in Ukraine

On 26 February 2022, Elon Musk announced that Starlink satellites had been activated over Ukraine after a request from the Ukrainian government[140] to replace internet services destroyed during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[141] By 6 April 2022, SpaceX had sent over 5000 Starlink terminals to Ukraine to allow Ukrainians access to the Starlink network;[142] SpaceX had donated 3667 or 73% of the 5000 terminals and removed the monthly service fees, and USAID had purchased the balance of the terminals.[143] According to The Washington Post, The Starlink equipment sent to Ukraine was funded by SpaceX including partial funding by the U.S. Agency for International Development, as well as the governments of France and Poland.[144][145] By mid August, Ukraine internet service was being provided by more than 20,000 Starlink terminals, some from foreign partners and volunteers, in addition to many provided directly by SpaceX. During the war, Ukrainians can use Starlink terminals without paying the normal monthly subscription fee;[146] by year-end, Musk estimated the cost of Starlink's donation at $20 million per month.[147]

In May 2022 a Starlink-enabled Ukrainian Internet App was the key component of a successful new artillery fire coordination system.[148] While military and government use of the Starlink has been the most important aspect of opening Ukraine to low-altitude satellite internet services in early 2022, civilians are also heavily using the technology "to keep in touch with the outside world and tell loved ones that they are alive."[146]

On September 30, Ukrainian forces reported major Starlink outages across the frontline, resulting in "catastrophic" losses of communication.[149] CNN reported Starlink services had to be requested by Ukrainian forces as new areas were liberated.[150]

Availability and regulatory approval by country

 
Starlink availability map by country
  Approved and activated
  Activated
  Unknown

In order to offer satellite services in any nation-state, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) regulations and long-standing international treaties require that landing rights be granted by each country jurisdiction, and within a country, by the national communications regulators. As a result, even though the Starlink network has near-global reach at latitudes below approximately 60°, broadband services can only be provided in 40 countries as of September 2022.[151] SpaceX can also have business operation and economic considerations that may make a difference in which countries Starlink service is offered, in which order, and how soon. For example, SpaceX formally requested authorization for Canada only in June 2020,[152] the Canadian regulatory authority approved it in November 2020,[65] and SpaceX rolled out service two months later, in January 2021.[153] As of September 2022, Starlink services were on offer in 40 countries,[151] with applications pending regulatory approval in many more.[154]

Japan's major mobile provider, KDDI, announced a partnership with SpaceX to begin offering in 2022 expanded connectivity for its rural mobile customers via 1,200 remote mobile towers.[155]

On 25 April 2022, Hawaiian Airlines announced an agreement with Starlink to provide free internet access on its aircraft, becoming the first airline to use Starlink.[156] By July 2022, Starlink internet service was available in 36 countries and 41 markets.[157]

In May 2022, it was announced that regulatory approval had been granted for Nigeria, Mozambique, and the Philippines.[158][159][160][clarification needed] However, delays have set back a launch until mid-2023.[161]

Countries
# Continent Country Debut Notes
1 North America   United States
  Puerto Rico
  United States Virgin Islands 		Limited trials August 2020,[162] public beta November 2020[60] First authorized region, The FCC approved SpaceX's proposed modification of its license in 2021.[163]
2 North America   Canada January 2021[153]
3 Europe   United Kingdom January 2021[164]
4 Europe   Germany March 2021[165]
5 Oceania   New Zealand April 2021[166]
6 Oceania   Australia April 2021[167]
7 Europe   France
  Saint Martin
  Saint Barthélemy
  Guadeloupe
  Martinique 		Original debut May 2021,[168][169] Revoked April 2022,[170] Re-approved June 2022[171] Approval originally given in February 2021 but the Conseil d'État annulled that Decision on 5 April 2022 due to lack of public consultation.[170] Approval was given again after consultation was completed on 2 June 2022.[171] Service expanded to Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy in July 2022.[157] Service expanded to Martinique and Guadeloupe in September 2022.[172]
8 Europe   Austria May 2021[168]
9 Europe   Netherlands May 2021[173]
10 Europe   Belgium May 2021[174]
11 Europe   Ireland Limited trials April 2021,[175] public beta July 2021[176]
12 Europe   Denmark July 2021[177]
13 Europe   Portugal August 2021[178]
14 Europe   Switzerland August 2021[179]
15 South America   Chile Limited trials July 2021,[180] public beta September 2021[181]
16 Europe   Poland September 2021[182]
17 Europe   Italy September 2021[183]
18 Europe   Czech Republic September 2021[184]
19 Europe   Sweden October 2021[185]
20 North America   Mexico November 2021[186]
21 Europe   Croatia November 2021[187]
22 Europe   Lithuania December 2021[188][189]
23 Europe   Spain January 2022[190]
24 Europe   Slovakia January 2022[191]
25 Europe   Slovenia January 2022[192]
26 Oceania   Tonga February 2022[193] Emergency relief provided one month after the 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai eruption and tsunami, ground station established in neighboring Fiji for six months
27 South America   Brazil January 2022[194][195]
28 Europe   Bulgaria February 2022[196]
29 Europe   Ukraine February 2022[140][197][141] Initially supplied as emergency relief in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. See Starlink satellite services in Ukraine.
30 Europe   Romania April 2022[198]
31 Europe   Greece April 2022[199]
32 Europe   Latvia April 2022[200]
33 Europe   Hungary May 2022[201]
34 Europe   North Macedonia June 2022[202]
35 Europe   Luxembourg July 2022[157]
36 North America   Dominican Republic July 2022[203]
37 Europe   Moldova August 2022[204]
38 Europe   Estonia August 2022[205]
39 South America   Colombia August 2022[206][207][208][209]
40 Europe   Norway August 2022[210]
41 Europe   Malta September 2022[151]
42 Asia   Iran September 2022[211] Activated in response to Iranian censorship as a result of Iranian protests against compulsory hijab.[212]
43 Asia   Japan October 2022[213]
44 North America   Jamaica October 2022[214]
45 Europe   Finland November 2022[215]

Technology

Satellite hardware

The Internet communication satellites were expected to be in the smallsat-class of 100 to 500 kg (220 to 1,100 lb)-mass, and were intended to be in low Earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of approximately 1,100 km (680 mi), according to early public releases of information in 2015. In the event, the first large deployment of 60 satellites in May 2019 were 227 kg (500 lb)[216] and SpaceX decided to place the satellites at a relatively low 550 km (340 mi), due to concerns about the space environment.[217] Initial plans as of January 2015 were for the constellation to be made up of approximately 4,000 cross-linked[218] satellites, more than twice as many operational satellites as were in orbit in January 2015.[28]

The satellites will employ optical inter-satellite links and phased array beam-forming and digital processing technologies in the Ku and Ka microwave bands (super high frequency [SHF] to extremely high frequency [EHF]), according to documents filed with the U.S. FCC.[219][220] While specifics of the phased array technologies have been disclosed as part of the frequency application, SpaceX enforced confidentiality regarding details of the optical inter-satellite links.[221] Early satellites were launched without laser links. The inter-satellite laser links were successfully tested in late 2020.[222][223]

The satellites will be mass-produced, at a much lower cost per unit of capability than previously existing satellites. Musk said, "We're going to try and do for satellites what we've done for rockets."[224] "In order to revolutionize space, we have to address both satellites and rockets."[28] "Smaller satellites are crucial to lowering the cost of space-based Internet and communications".[225]

In February 2015, SpaceX asked the FCC to consider future innovative uses of the Ka-band spectrum before the FCC commits to 5G communications regulations that would create barriers to entry, since SpaceX is a new entrant to the satellite communications market. The SpaceX non-geostationary orbit communications satellite constellation will operate in the high-frequency bands above 24 GHz, "where steerable Earth station transmit antennas would have a wider geographic impact, and significantly lower satellite altitudes magnify the impact of aggregate interference from terrestrial transmissions".[226]

Internet traffic via a geostationary satellite has a minimum theoretical round-trip latency of at least 477 milliseconds (ms; between user and ground gateway), but in practice, current satellites have latencies of 600 ms or more. Starlink satellites are orbiting at 1⁄105 to 1⁄30 of the height of geostationary orbits, and thus offer more practical Earth-to-sat latencies of around 25 to 35 ms, comparable to existing cable and fiber networks.[227] The system will use a peer-to-peer protocol claimed to be "simpler than IPv6", it will also incorporate end-to-end encryption natively.[228]

Starlink satellites use Hall-effect thrusters with krypton gas as the reaction mass[216][229] for orbit raising and station keeping.[230] Krypton Hall thrusters tend to exhibit significantly higher erosion of the flow channel compared to a similar electric propulsion system operated with xenon, but krypton is much more abundant and has a lower market price.[231]

User terminals

 
SpaceX board member Steve Jurvetson holding a Starlink user terminal in June 2020.

The system does not directly connect from its satellites to handsets (like the constellations from Iridium, Globalstar, Thuraya and Inmarsat). Instead, it is linked to flat user terminals the size of a pizza box, which have phased array antennas and track the satellites. The terminals can be mounted anywhere, as long as they can see the sky.[218] This includes fast-moving objects like trains.[232] Photographs of the customer antennas were first seen on the internet in June 2020, supporting earlier statements by SpaceX CEO Musk that the terminals would look like a "UFO on a stick. Starlink Terminal has motors to self-adjust optimal angle to view sky".[233] The antenna is known internally as "Dishy McFlatface".[234][235]

In October 2020, SpaceX launched a paid-for beta service in the U.S. called "Better Than Nothing Beta", charging $499 for a user terminal, with an expected service of "50 Mbps to 150 Mbps and latency from 20 ms to 40 ms over the next several months".[96] From January 2021, the paid-for beta service was extended to other continents, starting with the United Kingdom.[236]

A larger, high-performance version of the antenna is available for use with the Starlink Business service tier.[76]

In September 2020, SpaceX applied for permission to put terminals on 10 of its ships with the expectation of entering the maritime market in the future.[237]

Ground stations

SpaceX has made applications to the FCC for at least 32 ground stations in United States, and as of July 2020 has approvals for five of them (in five states). Starlink uses the Ka-band to connect with ground stations.[238]

A typical ground station right now[when?] has nine 2.86m antennas in a 400 sqm fenced in area.[239]

According to their filing, SpaceX's ground stations would also be installed on-site at Google data-centers world-wide.[71]

Satellite revisions

MicroSat

MicroSat-1a and MicroSat-1b were originally slated to be launched into 625 km (388 mi) circular orbits at approximately 86.4° inclination, and to include panchromatic video imager cameras to film images of Earth and the satellite.[240] The two satellites, "MicroSat-1a" and "MicroSat-1b" were meant to be launched together as secondary payloads on one of the Iridium-NEXT flights, but they were instead used for ground-based tests.[241]

Tintin

At the time of the June 2015 announcement, SpaceX had stated plans to launch the first two demonstration satellites in 2016,[242] but the target date was subsequently moved out to 2018.[243] SpaceX began flight testing their satellite technologies in 2018[243] with the launch of two test satellites. The two identical satellites were called MicroSat-2a and MicroSat-2b[244] during development but were renamed Tintin A and Tintin B upon orbital deployment on 22 February 2018. The satellites were launched by a Falcon 9 rocket, and they were piggy-pack payloads launching with the Paz satellite.

Tintin A and B were inserted into a 514 km (319 mi) orbit. Per FCC filings,[245] they were intended to raise themselves to an 1,125 km (699 mi) orbit, the operational altitude for Starlink LEO satellites per the earliest regulatory filings, but stayed close to their original orbits. SpaceX announced in November 2018 that they would like to operate an initial shell of about 1600 satellites in the constellation at about 550 km (340 mi) orbital altitude, at an altitude similar to the orbits Tintin A and B stayed in.[48]

The satellites orbit in a circular low Earth orbit at about 500 km (310 mi) altitude[246] in a high-inclination orbit for a planned six to twelve-month duration. The satellites communicate with three testing ground stations in Washington State and California for short-term experiments of less than ten minutes duration, roughly daily.[242][247]

v0.9 (test)

The 60 Starlink v0.9 satellites, launched in May 2019, have the following characteristics:[216]

v1.0 (operational)

The Starlink v1.0 satellites, launched since November 2019, have the following additional characteristics:[citation needed]

  • 100% of all components of this design will completely demise, or burn up, in Earth's atmosphere at the end of each satellite's life.[249]
  • Ka-band added[250]
  • Mass: 260 kg (570 lb)
  • One of them, numbered 1130 and called DarkSat, had its albedo reduced using a special coating but the method was abandoned due to thermal issues and IR reflectivity.[251][252]
  • All satellites launched since the ninth launch at August 2020 have visors to block sunlight from reflecting from parts of the satellite to reduce its albedo further.[253][254][255][256]

v1.5 (operational)

The Starlink v1.5 satellites, launched since 24 January 2021, have the following additional characteristics:

  • Lasers for inter-satellite communication[257]
  • Mass: ∼295 kg (650 lb)
  • Visors that blocked sunlight were removed from satellites launched from September 2021 onwards.[258]

Starshield (operational)

Main article: STARSHIELD

These are satellites buses with two solar arrays derived from starlinks v1.5 and v2.0 for military use and can host classified government or military payloads.[259]

v2.0 (planned)

SpaceX was preparing for the production of Starlink v2.0 satellites by early 2021.[260] According to Elon Musk, Starlink v2.0 satellites will have "useful bits of data is almost an order of magnitude better than Starlink 1" in terms of communications bandwidth.[261]

SpaceX hopes to begin launching Starlink v2.0 in 2022. As of May 2022, SpaceX had said publicly that the satellites of second-generation (Gen2) constellation would need to be launched on Starship, as they are too large to fit inside a Falcon 9 fairing.[citation needed] However, in August 2022, SpaceX made formal regulatory filings with the FCC that indicated they would build satellites of the second-generation (Gen2) constellation in two different, but technically identical, form factors: one with the physical structures tailored to launching on Falcon 9, and one tailored for the launching on Starship.[108][262] Starlink v2.0 is both larger and heavier than Starlink v1 satellites.

Starlink second-generation satellites planned for launch on Starship have the following characteristics:[263][262]

  • Lasers for inter-satellite communication[264]
  • Mass: ∼1,250 kg (2,760 lb)
  • Length: ∼7 m (23 ft)
  • Further improvements to reduce its brightness, including the use of a dielectric mirror film.[265]
  • On 2,016 of the initially licensed 7,500 satellites:[266] Gen2 Starlink satellites will also include an approximately 25 square meter antenna that would allow T-Mobile subscribers to be able to communicate directly via satellite through their regular mobile devices.[108] It will be implemented via a German-licensed hosted payload developed together with SpaceX's subsidiary Swarm Technologies and T-Mobile.[266] This hardware is supplemental to the existing Ku-band and Ka-band systems, and inter-satellite laser links, that have been on the first generation satellites launching as of mid-2022.[citation needed]

Further, in October 2022, SpaceX redefined some early v2.0s so there are 3 different busses of v2.0s:[267]

  • Bus F9-1 (planned), 303 kg mass, having roughly the same dimensions and mass as the current V1.5 satellites.
  • Bus F9-2 (planned) (sometimes called "V2 mini"[108]), 800 kg mass and measuring 4.1 m (13 ft) by 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in) with a total array of 120 m2 (1,300 sq ft). It could offer around 3-4 times more usable bandwidth per satellite.[268]
  • Bus Starship (planned), 2000 kg mass.

Launches

Further information: List of Starlink launches

Between February 2018 and 2022, SpaceX successfully launched 2,091 satellites into orbit. In March 2020, SpaceX reported producing six satellites per day.[269]

The deployment of the first 1,440 satellites was planned in 72 orbital planes of 20 satellites each,[270] with a requested lower minimum elevation angle of beams to improve reception: 25° rather than the 40° of the other two orbital shells.[48]: 17  SpaceX launched the first 60 satellites of the constellation in May 2019 into a 550 km (340 mi) orbit and expected up to six launches in 2019 at that time, with 720 satellites (12 × 60) for continuous coverage in 2020.[271][272]

Starlink satellites are also planned to launch on Starship, an under-development rocket of SpaceX with a much larger payload capability. The initial announcement included plans to launch 400 Starlink (version 1.0) satellites at a time.[273] Current plans now call for Starship to be the only launch vehicle to be used to launch fewer of the much larger Starlink version 2.0.

 
The Starlink constellation, phase 1, first orbital shell: 72 orbits with 22 each, therefore 1584 satellites at 550 km altitude

Constellation design and status

First Generation

Contains all v0.9 and first generation satellites. Tintin A and Tintin B as test satellites are not included.

Phase Group designation Orbital shells Orbital planes[274] Committed completion date Deployed satellites
Altitude
(km) 		Planned satellites Incli­nation Count Satellites
per 		Half Full Active,
19 December 2022 		Decaying/
deorbited,
19 December 2022
1[275] Group 1[276] 550 km (340 mi) 1584[277] 53.0° 72 22 March 2024 (aimed)
1 August 2022 (achieved)[278]		 March 2027 1478[279] 247[279]
Group 2 570 km (350 mi) 720 70° 36 20 49[279] 2[279]
Group 3[280] 560 km (350 mi) 348 97.6° 6 58 187[279] 10[279]
Group 4 540 km (340 mi) 1584 53.2° 72 22 1570[279] 67[279]
560 km (350 mi) 172 97.6° 4 43 0
2[281][a] 335.9 km (208.7 mi)[a] 2493 42.0° November 2024 November 2027 0
340.8 km (211.8 mi)[a] 2478 48.0° 0
345.6 km (214.7 mi)[a] 2547 53.0° 0
  1. ^ a b c d SpaceX plans to abandon the approved phase 2 configuration.

Early designs had all phase 1 satellites in altitudes of around 1,100–1,300 km (680–810 mi). SpaceX initially requested to lower the first 1584 satellites, and in April 2020 requested to lower all other higher satellite orbits to about 550 km (340 mi).[282][283] In April 2020, SpaceX modified the architecture of the Starlink network. SpaceX submitted an application to the FCC proposing to operate more satellites in lower orbits in the first phase than the FCC previously authorized. The first phase will still include 1,440 satellites in the first shell orbiting at 550 km (340 mi) in planes inclined 53.0°,[270] with no change to the first shell of the constellation launched largely in 2020.[284] SpaceX also applied in the United States for use of the E-band in their constellation[285] The FCC approved the application in April 2021.[286][287][288]

On 24 January 2021 SpaceX released a new group of 10 Starlink satellites, the first Starlink satellites in polar orbits. The launch surpassed ISRO's record of launching the most satellites in one mission (143), taking to 1,025 the cumulative number of satellites deployed for Starlink to that date.[289][290]

On 3 February 2022, 49 satellites were launched as Starlink Group 4-7. A G2-rated geomagnetic storm occurred on 4 February, caused the atmosphere to warm and density at the low deployment altitudes to increase. Predictions were that up to 40 of the 49 satellites might be lost to drag.[291] In the event, 38 satellites reentered the atmosphere by 12 February while the remaining 11 were able to raise their orbits and avoid loss due to the storm.[292][293]

In October 2022 SpaceX notified the FCC it plans to add V-band payload to the second generation satellites rather than fly phase 2 V-band satellites as originally planned and authorized.[294] The request is subject to FCC approval.

Second Generation

Phase Group designation Orbital shells Orbital planes[295][a] Committed completion date Deployed satellites
Altitude
(km) 		Planned satellites Incli­nation Count Satellites
per 		Half Full Active,
19 December 2022 		Decaying/
deorbited,
19 December 2022
1[b] Group 5[298] 530 km (330 mi) 3360[b] 43°[299] 28 120 1 December 2028[297] 1 December 2031[297] 54 0
1[b] 525 km (326 mi) 3360[b] 53° 28 120
1[b] 535 km (332 mi) 3360[b] 33° 28 120
  1. ^ SpaceX abandoned configuration 2 proposed in the amendment[296]
  2. ^ a b c d e f The FCC limited phase 1 to 7,500 satellites across 3 shells.[297]

Impact on astronomy

 
Signal pollution in a 333-second exposure image taken from the Blanco four-meter (13') telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.
 
Starlink in Tübingen, Germany
 
Starlink 1619 seen by the Hubble Space Telescope.

The planned large number of satellites has been met with criticism from the astronomical community because of concerns over light pollution.[300][301][302] Astronomers claim that the number of visible satellites will outnumber visible stars and that their brightness in both optical and radio wavelengths will severely impact scientific observations. While astronomers can schedule observations to avoid pointing where satellites currently orbit, it is "getting more difficult" as more satellites come online.[303] The International Astronomical Union (IAU), National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), and Square Kilometre Array Organization (SKAO) have released official statements expressing concern on the matter.[304][305][306]

On 20 November 2019, the four-meter (13') Blanco telescope of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) recorded strong signal loss and the appearance of 19 white lines on a DECam shot (right image). This image noise was correlated to the transit of a Starlink satellite train, launched a week earlier.[307]

SpaceX representatives and Musk have claimed that the satellites will have minimal impact, being easily mitigated by pixel masking and image stacking.[308] However, professional astronomers have disputed these claims based on initial observation of the Starlink v0.9 satellites on the first launch, shortly after their deployment from the launch vehicle.[309][310][311][312] In later statements on Twitter, Musk stated that SpaceX will work on reducing the albedo of the satellites and will provide on-demand orientation adjustments for astronomical experiments, if necessary.[313][314] One Starlink satellite (Starlink 1130 / DarkSat) launched with an experimental coating to reduce its albedo. The reduction in g-band magnitude is 0.8 magnitude (55%).[315][316] Despite these measures, astronomers found that the satellites were still too bright thus making DarkSat essentially a "dead end".[317]

On 17 April 2020, SpaceX wrote in an FCC filing that it would test new methods of mitigating light pollution, and also provide access to satellite tracking data for astronomers to "better coordinate their observations with our satellites".[318][319] On 27 April 2020, Musk announced that the company would introduce a new sunshade designed to reduce the brightness of Starlink satellites.[318] As of 15 October 2020, over 200 Starlink satellites had a sunshade. An October 2020 analysis found them to be only marginally fainter than DarkSat.[320] A January 2021 study pinned the brightness at 31% of the original design.[321]

According to a May 2021 study, "The large number of fast-moving transmitting stations (i.e. satellites) will cause further interference. New analysis methods could mitigate some of these effects, but data loss is inevitable, increasing the time needed for each study and limiting the overall amount of science done".[322]

In February 2022, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) established a center to help astronomers deal with the adverse effects of satellite constellations such as Starlink. Work will include the development of software tools for astronomers, advancement of national and international policies, community outreach and work with industry on relevant technologies.[323]

In June 2022, the IAU released a website for astronomers to deal with some adverse effects via satellite tracking. This will enable astronomers to be able to track satellites to be able to avoid and time them for minimal impact on current work.[324]

Increased risk of satellite collision

The large number of satellites employed by Starlink may create long-term danger of space debris resulting from placing thousands of satellites in orbit and the risk of causing a satellite collision, potentially triggering a phenomenon known as Kessler syndrome.[325][326] SpaceX has said that most of the satellites are launched at a lower altitude, and failed satellites are expected to deorbit within five years without propulsion.[327]

Early in the program, a near-miss occurred when SpaceX did not move a satellite that had a 1 in 1,000 chance of colliding with a European one, ten times higher than ESA's threshold for avoidance maneuvers. SpaceX subsequently fixed an issue with its paging system that had disrupted emails between ESA and SpaceX. ESA said it plans to invest in technologies to automate satellite collision avoidance maneuvers.[328][329] In 2021, Chinese authorities lodged a complaint with the United Nations, saying their space station had performed evasive maneuvers that year to avoid Starlink satellites.[330] In the document, Chinese delegates said that the continuously maneuvering Starlink satellites posed a risk of collision, and two close encounters with the satellites in July and October constituted dangers to the life or health of astronauts aboard the Chinese Tiangong space station.[331]

All these reported issues, plus current plans for the extension of the constellation, motivated a formal letter from National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on behalf of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), submitted to FCC on 8 February 2022, warning about the potential impact on LEO orbit, increased collision risk, impact on science missions, rocket launches, International Space Station and Radio frequencies Interferences. Resting credibility on the arguments for collision self-avoidance reported by SpaceX.[332]

Competition and market effects

See also: Satellite constellation § Communications satellite constellations, and Satellite internet constellation

In addition to the OneWeb constellation, announced nearly concurrently with the SpaceX constellation, a 2015 proposal from Samsung outlined a 4,600-satellite constellation orbiting at 1,400 km (870 mi) that could provide a zettabyte per month capacity worldwide, an equivalent of 200 gigabytes per month for 5 billion users of Internet data,[333][334] but by 2020, no more public information had been released about the Samsung constellation. Telesat announced a smaller 117 satellite constellation in 2015 with plans to deliver initial service in 2021.[335] Amazon announced a large broadband internet satellite constellation in April 2019, planning to launch 3,236 satellites in the next decade in what the company calls "Project Kuiper", a satellite constellation that will work in concert[336] with Amazon's previously announced large network of twelve satellite ground station facilities (the "AWS ground station unit") announced in November 2018.[337]

In February 2015, financial analysts questioned established geosynchronous orbit communications satellite fleet operators as to how they intended to respond to the competitive threat of SpaceX and OneWeb LEO communication satellites.[338] In October 2015, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell indicated that while development continues, the business case for the long-term rollout of an operational satellite network was still in an early phase.[339]

By October 2017, the expectation for large increases in satellite network capacity from emerging lower-altitude broadband constellations caused market players to cancel some planned investments in new geosynchronous orbit broadband communications satellites.[340]

SpaceX was challenged regarding Starlink in February 2021 when the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), a political interest group representing traditional rural internet service providers, urged the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to "actively, and aggressively, and thoughtfully vet" the subsidy applications of SpaceX and other broadband providers. At the time, SpaceX had provisionally won $886 million for a commitment to provide service to approximately 643,000 locations in 35 states as part of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF).[341] The NRECA criticisms included that the funding allocation to Starlink would include service to locations—such as Harlem and terminals at Newark Liberty International Airport and Miami International Airport—that are not rural, and because SpaceX was planning to build the infrastructure and serve any customers who request service with or without the FCC subsidy.[341] Additionally, Jim Matheson, chief executive officer of the NRECA voiced concern about technologies that had not yet been proven to meet the high speeds required for the award category. Starlink was specifically criticized for being still in beta testing and an unproven technology.[342]

While Starlink is deployed worldwide, it has encountered trademark conflicts in some countries such as Mexico.[343]

Similar or competitive systems

Main articles: Satellite internet constellation and Satellite constellation § Two-way communication

See also

  • AST SpaceMobile – a satellite-to-mobile-phone satellite constellation working with large mobile network operators such as Vodafone, AT&T, Orange, Rakuten, Telestra, Telefonica, etc. with the objective to provide broadband internet coverage to existing unmodified mobile phones
  • Orbcomm – an operational constellation used to provide global asset monitoring and messaging services from its constellation of 29 LEO communications satellites orbiting at 775 km
  • Globalstar – an operational low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation for satellite phone and low-speed data communications, covering most of the world's landmass
  • Iridium – an operational constellation of 66 cross-linked satellites in a polar orbit, used to provide satellite phone and low-speed data services over the entire surface of Earth
  • Lynk Global – a satellite-to-mobile-phone satellite constellation with the objective to coverage to traditional low-cost mobile devices
  • Teledesic – a former (1990s) venture to accomplish broadband satellite internet services
  • Project Loon – former concept to provide internet access via balloons in the stratosphere

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January 28, 2023
starlink, this, article, about, spacex, satellite, internet, service, other, uses, disambiguation, satellite, internet, constellation, operated, spacex, providing, satellite, internet, access, coverage, countries, also, aims, global, mobile, phone, service, af. This article is about the SpaceX satellite internet service For other uses see Starlink disambiguation Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX 3 providing satellite Internet access coverage to 45 countries It also aims for global mobile phone service after 2023 4 SpaceX started launching Starlink satellites in 2019 As of December 2022 Starlink consists of over 3 300 mass produced small satellites in low Earth orbit LEO 5 which communicate with designated ground transceivers In total nearly 12 000 satellites are planned to be deployed with a possible later extension to 42 000 SpaceX announced reaching more than one million subscribers in December 2022 6 Starlink60 Starlink satellites stacked together before deployment on 24 May 2019ManufacturerSpaceXCountry of originUnited StatesOperatorSpaceXApplicationsInternet serviceWebsitestarlink comSpecificationsSpacecraft typeSmall satelliteLaunch massv 0 9 227 kg 500 lb v 1 0 260 kg 570 lb v 1 5 306 kg 675 lb 1 v 2 0 1 250 kg 2 760 lb 2 EquipmentKu Ka and E band phased array antennas Laser transponders some units Hall effect thrustersRegimeLow Earth orbit Sun synchronous orbitProductionStatusActiveThe SpaceX satellite development facility in Redmond Washington houses the Starlink research development manufacturing and orbit control teams The cost of the decade long project to design build and deploy the constellation was estimated by SpaceX in May 2018 to be at least US 10 billion 7 SpaceX expects more than 30 billion in revenue by 2025 from its satellite constellation while revenues from its launch business were expected to reach 5 billion in the same year 8 9 Astronomers have raised concerns about the effect the constellation can have on ground based astronomy and how the satellites will add to an already congested orbital environment 10 11 SpaceX has attempted to mitigate astronomy concerns by implementing several upgrades to Starlink satellites aimed at reducing their brightness during operation 12 The satellites are equipped with krypton fueled Hall thrusters which allow them to de orbit at the end of their life Additionally the satellites are designed to autonomously avoid collisions based on uplinked tracking data 13 Contents 1 History 1 1 Background 1 2 Development phase 2015 2020 1 3 Commercial service 2021 2 Services 2 1 Satellite internet 2 2 Satellite cellular service 2 3 Military satellites 2 3 1 Starshield program 2 4 Military communications 2 4 1 Use in Ukraine 3 Availability and regulatory approval by country 4 Technology 4 1 Satellite hardware 4 2 User terminals 4 3 Ground stations 4 4 Satellite revisions 4 4 1 MicroSat 4 4 2 Tintin 4 4 3 v0 9 test 4 4 4 v1 0 operational 4 4 5 v1 5 operational 4 4 6 Starshield operational 4 4 7 v2 0 planned 5 Launches 5 1 Constellation design and status 5 1 1 First Generation 5 1 2 Second Generation 6 Impact on astronomy 7 Increased risk of satellite collision 8 Competition and market effects 9 Similar or competitive systems 10 See also 11 References 12 External linksHistory EditBackground Edit Constellations of low Earth orbit satellites were first conceptualized in the mid 1980s as part of the Strategic Defense Initiative culminating in Brilliant Pebbles where weapons were to be staged in orbit to intercept ballistic missiles on short notice The potential for low latency communication was also recognized and development offshoots in the 1990s led to numerous commercial megaconstellations using around 100 satellites such as Celestron Teledesic Iridium and Globalstar However all entities entered bankruptcy by the dot com bubble burst due in part to excessive launch costs at the time 14 15 In 2004 Larry Williams SpaceX VP of strategic relations and former VP of Teledesic s Internet in the sky program opened the SpaceX Washington DC office 16 That June SpaceX acquired a stake in Surrey Satellite Technology SSTL as part of a shared strategic vision 17 SSTL was at that time working to extend the Internet into space 18 However SpaceX s stake was eventually sold back to EADS Astrium in 2008 after the company became more focused on navigation and Earth observation 19 In early 2014 Elon Musk and Greg Wyler were reportedly working together planning a constellation of around 700 satellites called WorldVu which would be over 10 times the size of the then largest Iridium satellite constellation 20 However these discussions broke down in June 2014 and SpaceX instead filed an ITU application via the Norway telecom regulator under the name STEAM 21 SpaceX confirmed the connection in the 2016 application to license Starlink with the Federal Communications Commission FCC 22 SpaceX trademarked the name Starlink in the United States for their satellite broadband network 23 the name was inspired by the book The Fault in Our Stars 24 Development phase 2015 2020 Edit The SpaceX satellite development facility Redmond Washington in use from 2015 to mid 2018 Starlink was publicly announced in January 2015 with the opening of the SpaceX satellite development facility in Redmond Washington During the opening Elon Musk stated there is still significant unmet demand worldwide for low cost broadband capabilities 25 26 and that Starlink would target bandwidth to carry up to 50 of all backhaul communications traffic and up to 10 of local Internet traffic in high density cities 27 28 Elon further stated that the positive cash flow from selling satellite internet services would be necessary to fund their Mars plans 29 Furthermore SpaceX has long term plans to develop and deploy a version of the satellite communication system to serve Mars 30 Starting with 60 engineers the company operated in 2 800 m2 30 000 sq ft of leased space and by January 2017 had taken on a 2 800 m2 30 000 sq ft second facility both in Redmond 31 In August 2018 SpaceX consolidated all their Seattle area operations with a move to a larger three building facility at Redmond Ridge Corporate Center to support satellite manufacturing in addition to R amp D 32 In July 2016 SpaceX acquired an additional 740 m2 8 000 sq ft creative space in Irvine California Orange County 33 The Irvine office would include signal processing RFIC and ASIC development for the satellite program 34 By October 2016 the satellite division was focusing on a significant business challenge of achieving a sufficiently low cost design for the user equipment SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said then that the project remained in the design phase as the company seeks to tackle issues related to user terminal cost 35 In November 2016 SpaceX filed an application with the FCC for a non geostationary orbit NGSO satellite system in the Fixed Satellite Service using the Ku and Ka frequency bands 36 In March 2017 SpaceX filed plans with the FCC to field a second orbital shell of more than 7 500 V band satellites in non geosynchronous orbits to provide communications services in an electromagnetic spectrum that has not previously been heavily employed for commercial communications services Called the Very Low Earth Orbit VLEO constellation 37 it was to have comprised 7 518 satellites that were to orbit at just 340 km 210 mi altitude 38 while the smaller originally planned group of 4 425 satellites would operate in the Ka and Ku bands and orbit at 1 200 km 750 mi altitude 37 38 In the event by 2022 SpaceX had withdrawn plans to field the 7518 satellite V band system superseding in with a more comprehensive second generation Gen2 Starlink satellite design 39 In September 2017 the FCC ruled that half of the constellation must be in orbit within six years to comply with licensing terms while the full system should be in orbit within nine years from the date of the license 40 SpaceX filed documents in late 2017 with the FCC to clarify their space debris mitigation plan under which the company was to implement an operations plan for the orderly de orbit of satellites nearing the end of their useful lives roughly five to seven years at a rate far faster than is required under international standards Satellites will de orbit by propulsively moving to a disposal orbit from which they will re enter the Earth s atmosphere within approximately one year after completion of their mission 41 Falcon 9 lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station CCAFS Florida delivering 60 Starlink satellites to orbit on 11 November 2019 In March 2018 the FCC granted SpaceX approval for the initial 4 425 satellites with some conditions SpaceX would need to obtain a separate approval from the International Telecommunication Union ITU 42 43 The FCC supported a NASA request to ask SpaceX to achieve an even higher level of de orbiting reliability than the standard that NASA had previously used for itself reliably de orbiting 90 of the satellites after their missions are complete 44 In May 2018 SpaceX expected the total cost of development and buildout of the constellation to approach 10 billion 7 In mid 2018 SpaceX reorganized the satellite development division in Redmond and terminated several members of senior management 32 In November 2018 SpaceX received U S regulatory approval to deploy 7 518 V band broadband satellites in addition to the 4 425 approved earlier 45 46 however the V band plans were subsequently withdrawn by 2022 39 At the same time SpaceX also made new regulatory filings with the U S FCC to request the ability to alter its previously granted license in order to operate approximately 1 600 of the 4 425 Ka Ku band satellites approved for operation at 1 150 km 710 mi in a new lower shell of the constellation at only 550 km 340 mi 47 orbital altitude 48 49 These satellites would effectively operate in a third orbital shell a 550 km 340 mi orbit while the higher and lower orbits at approximately 1 200 km 750 mi and approximately 340 km 210 mi would be used only later once a considerably larger deployment of satellites becomes possible in the later years of the deployment process The FCC approved the request in April 2019 giving approval to place nearly 12 000 satellites in three orbital shells initially approximately 1 600 in a 550 km 340 mi altitude shell and subsequently placing approximately 2 800 Ku and Ka band spectrum satellites at 1 150 km 710 mi and approximately 7 500 V band satellites at 340 km 210 mi 50 In total nearly 12 000 satellites were planned to be deployed with as of 2019 a possible later extension to 42 000 51 In February 2019 a sister company of SpaceX SpaceX Services Inc filed a request with the FCC to receive a license for the operation of up to a million fixed satellite Earth stations that would communicate with its non geostationary orbit NGSO satellite Starlink system 52 In June 2019 SpaceX applied to the FCC for a license to test up to 270 ground terminals 70 nationwide across the United States and 200 in Washington state at SpaceX employee homes 53 54 and aircraft borne antenna operation from four distributed United States airfields as well as five ground to ground test locations 55 56 By late 2019 SpaceX was transitioning their satellite efforts from research and development to manufacturing with the planned first launch of a large group of satellites to orbit and the clear need to achieve an average launch rate of 44 high performance low cost spacecraft built and launched every month for the next 60 months to get the 2 200 satellites launched to support their FCC spectrum allocation license assignment 57 SpaceX said they will meet the deadline of having half the constellation in orbit within six years of authorization and the full system in nine years 50 On 15 October 2019 the United States FCC submitted filings to the International Telecommunication Union ITU on SpaceX s behalf to arrange spectrum for 30 000 additional Starlink satellites to supplement the 12 000 Starlink satellites already approved by the FCC 58 That month Elon Musk publicly tested the Starlink network by using an Internet connection routed through the network to post a first tweet to social media site Twitter 59 In November 2020 Starlink beta internet service was opened to the public 60 Starlink beta testers reported speeds over 150 megabits per second above the range announced for the public beta test 61 Commercial service 2021 Edit Starlink user terminal with dish as shipped in early 2021 In February 2021 SpaceX opened up pre orders to the public 62 SpaceX completed raising an additional 3 5 billion in equity financing over the previous six months 63 64 to support the capital intensive phase of the operational fielding of Starlink plus the development of the Starship launch system 63 In April 2021 SpaceX clarified that they have already tested two generations of Starlink technology with the second one having been less expensive than the first The third generation with laser inter satellite links is expected to begin launching in the next few months and will be much less expensive than earlier versions 63 On 6 November 2020 Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada announced regulatory approval for the Starlink low Earth orbit satellite constellation 65 The FCC initially awarded SpaceX with 885 5 million worth of federal subsidies to support rural broadband customers through the company s Starlink satellite Internet network SpaceX won subsidies to bring service to customers in 35 U S states 66 The 885 5 million aid package was revoked in August 2022 with the FCC stating that Starlink failed to demonstrate its ability to deliver the promised service 67 SpaceX later appealed the decision saying they met or surpassed all RDOF deployment requirements that existed during bidding and that the FCC created new standards that no bidder could meet today 68 In March 2021 SpaceX put an application into FCC for mobile variations of their terminal for vehicles vessels and aircraft 69 70 In May 2021 SpaceX announced agreements with Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure to provide on ground compute and networking services for Starlink 71 Viasat made a legal attempt to temporarily halt Starlink launches 72 In June 2021 SpaceX applied to the FCC to use mobile Starlink transceivers on launch vehicles flying to Earth orbit after having previously tested high altitude low velocity mobile use on a rocket prototype in May 2021 73 By 1 October 2021 SpaceX had sold 5000 Starlink preorders in India 74 and announced that Sanjay Bhargava who had worked with Elon Musk as part of a team that founded electronic payment firm PayPal would head the tech billionaire entrepreneur s Starlink satellite broadband venture in India 75 Three months later Bhargava resigned for personal reasons following the Indian government ordering SpaceX to halt selling preorders for Starlink service until SpaceX gains regulatory approval for providing satellite internet services in the country 74 In 2022 SpaceX announced the Starlink Business service tier a higher performance edition of the service It provides a larger high performance antenna and listed speeds of between 150 and 500 Mbit s with a cost of 2500 for the antenna and a 500 monthly service fee 76 The service includes 24 7 prioritized support 76 Deliveries are advertised to begin in the second quarter of 2022 77 The FCC also approved the licensing of Starlink services to boats aircraft and moving vehicles 78 Starlink terminal production being delayed by the 2020 present global chip shortage led to only 5 000 subscribers for the first two months of 2022 but this was soon resolved 79 According to Ookla between Q1 and Q2 2022 Starlink speeds decreased worldwide as more people signed up for Starlink although SpaceX has said that Starlink speeds will improve once more satellites are operational 80 In May 2022 Starlink entered the Philippine market as the company s first deployment in Asia due to a landmark legislative change RA 11659 Public Services Act about all foreign allowance of company ownership in regards to utility entities such as internet and telco companies Starlink was able to obtain a provisional permission from the country s Department of Information and Communication Technologies DICT National Telecommunications Commission NTC and Department of Trade and Industry DTI and soon began commercial services aimed at regions with lower internet connectivity 81 Also in May 2022 Chinese military researchers published an article in a peer reviewed journal describing a strategy for destroying the Starlink constellation if they threaten national security 82 83 84 The researchers specifically highlight concerns with reported Starlink military capabilities Musk later announced that Starlink is meant for peaceful use to mend the fault in our stars 85 referencing a quote from Julius Caesar Men at some time are masters of their fates The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars But in ourselves that we are underlings Suggesting Starlink could create peace by taking strategic initiative The head of Russia s space agency Dmitry Rogozin had earlier warned Musk that you will have to answer in an adult way Elon no matter how you play the fool 86 In 2022 SpaceX unveiled new variants of the Starlink service On 23 May 2022 SpaceX rolled out Starlink For RVs a service that lets customers pay more to skip waitlists to connect to its broadband satellites without a fixed address although connection speeds for other users will be prioritized 87 On 7 July 2022 SpaceX announced Starlink Maritime to help support users and companies on the ocean Only working on the water unable to work on land the advertised speed for the service is set up to 350 Mbps However it comes at the one time price of 10 000 for the two user terminals and 5 000 monthly price 88 89 In August 2022 SpaceX secured its first contract for services in the passenger shipping industry Royal Caribbean Group has added Starlink internet to Freedom of the Seas and plans to offer the service on 50 ships under its Royal Caribbean International Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises brands by March 2023 78 Starlink services on private jet charter flights in the US by JSX are expected to begin in late 2022 and Hawaiian Airlines has contracted to provide Starlink services on transpacific flights to and from Hawaii in 2023 78 In September 2022 SpaceX sent out an email to users with pre orders about a service called Best Effort It allows those still waiting in a full capacity cell to receive the unused bandwidth of their cell while still being on the waiting list for more prioritized service The price and equipment are the same as the residential service coming in at 110 per month 90 91 In December a monthly 1TB data cap was introduced to subscribers 92 On 1 December 2022 the FCC issued an approval for SpaceX to launch the initial 7500 satellites for its second generation Gen2 constellation in three low Earth orbit orbital shells at 525 530 and 535 km altitude Overall SpaceX had requested approval for as many as 29 988 Gen2 satellites with approximately 10 000 in the 525 535 km altitude shells plus 20 000 in 340 360 km shells and nearly 500 in 604 614 km shells However the FCC noted that this is not a net increase in approved on orbit satellites for SpaceX since SpaceX is no longer planning to deploy 7518 V band satellites at 340 km 210 mi altitude that had previously been authorized 39 Services EditSatellite internet Edit Starlink antenna dish user terminal assembled 2021 Starlink WiFi Router Starlink provides satellite based internet connectivity to underserved areas of the planet as well as competitively priced service in more urbanized areas 93 In the United States Starlink charges a one time hardware fee of 599 for a user terminal and 110 per month for internet service at a fixed service address location 94 An additional 25 per month allows the user terminal to move beyond a fixed location Starlink For RVs but with service speeds deprioritized compared to the fixed users in that area 95 Fixed users are told to expect typical throughput of 50 Mbps to 150 Mbps and latency from 20 ms to 40 ms 96 A higher performance version of the service Starlink Business advertises speeds of 150 to 500 Mbps in exchange for a more costly 2 500 user terminal and a 500 monthly service fee 76 Another service called Starlink Maritime became available in July 2022 providing internet access on the open ocean with speeds of 350 Mbps requiring purchase of a maritime grade 10 000 user terminal and a 5 000 monthly service fee 97 98 Sales are capped to a few hundred fixed users per 20 km service cell area due to limited wireless capacity Starlink alternatively offers a Best Effort service tier allowing homes in capped areas to receive the current unused bandwidth of their cell while they are on the waiting list for more prioritized service The price and equipment are the same as the residential service at 110 per month 99 100 To improve the service quality in densely populated areas Starlink introduced a monthly 1TB data cap for all non business users which became enforced in 2023 101 In August 2022 SpaceX lowered monthly service costs for users in select countries 102 For example users in Brazil and Chile saw monthly fee decreases of about 50 103 As of December 2022 update Starlink has over one million active subscribers 6 104 Month Number ofsubscribers SourceFeb 2021 10 000 105 June 2021 100 000 106 Feb 2022 250 000May 2022 400 000June 2022 500 000 104 Sep 2022 700 000 107 Dec 2022 1 000 000 6 Satellite cellular service Edit For a future service T Mobile US and SpaceX are partnering to add satellite cellular service capability to Starlink satellites It will provide dead zone cell phone coverage across the US using existing midband PCS spectrum that T Mobile owns 108 109 Cell coverage will begin with messaging and expand to include voice and limited data services later with testing to begin in 2023 T Mobile plans to connect to Starlink satellites via existing mobile devices unlike previous generations of satellite phones which used specialized radios modems and antennas to connect to satellites in higher orbits 4 Bandwidth will be limited to approximately 2 to 4 megabits per second total split across a very large cell coverage area so limited to approximately 1 000 voice callers in a cell The size of a single coverage cell has not yet been publicly released but the satellites are 7 meters long and the antenna would fold out to be roughly 25 square meters 108 Military satellites Edit Elon Musk and four star general Terrence J O Shaughnessy in April 2019 Under Secretary of Defense Research and Engineering Michael D Griffin meets with Elon Musk in 2005 In 2018 the Space Development Agency SDA was formed as part of a Trump Administration push to resurrect the Strategic Defense Initiative SDI 110 111 SDA accelerates development of missile defense capabilities using industry procured low cost low Earth orbit satellite platforms 112 The program was conceived and instituted by Under Secretary of Defense R amp E Michael D Griffin who had decades earlier joined Elon Musk on his trip to Russia to examine ICBMs as part of SpaceX s founding 113 A few months after Space Development Agency was announced SpaceX Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell was asked by the United States Air Force given the nature of the program whether SpaceX would launch weapons into space for the US military She affirmed we would if it s for the defense of this country 114 In October 2020 SDA awarded SpaceX an initial 150 million dual use contract to develop a deluxe military version of the Starlink satellite bus 115 The first batch of satellites were originally scheduled to launch September 2022 to form part of the Tracking Layer Tranche 0 of the Space Force s National Defense Space Architecture NDSA 116 However the launch schedule slipped multiple times and is currently scheduled for March 2023 117 118 The NDSA will be composed of seven layers with specific functions data transport battle management missile tracking custody weapons targeting satellite navigation deterrence and ground support 119 120 Historically space based missile defense concepts e g Brilliant Pebbles were expensive but reusable launch systems have mitigated costs according to a 2019 Congressional Budget Office analysis 121 NSDA leverages existing commercial satellite bus development such as Starlink to reduce costs including free space optical laser terminals for a secure command and control mesh network 122 The 2019 Missile Defense Review notes space based sensing enables improved tracking and potentially targeting of advanced threats including HGVs and hypersonic cruise missiles 123 However the Union of Concerned Scientists warns developments could escalate tensions with Russia and China and called the project fundamentally destabilizing 124 The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace later advocated for a treaty halting development to prevent an arms race in space 125 Starlink s military satellite development is overseen internally at SpaceX by retired four star general Terrence J O Shaughnessy 126 127 O Shaughnessy advocated before the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services for a layered capability with lethal follow on that incorporates machine learning and artificial intelligence to gather and act upon sensor data quickly 128 Starshield program Edit In December 2022 SpaceX announced Starshield a program to incorporate military or government entity payloads onboard a customized satellite bus potentially based on Starlink Block v1 5 and v2 0 technology 129 better source needed These satellites are heavier with twice the area as a single Starlink v1 5 and have two pair of solar arrays as opposed to one on Starlink Block v1 5 130 While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use Starshield is designed for US government use with an initial focus on three areas namely earth observation communications and hosting payloads Designed to meet diverse mission requirements Starshield satellites are advertised as capable of integrating a wide variety of payloads offering unique versatility to users Starshield satellites will be compatible with and interconnect to the existing commercial Starlink satellites via optical inter satellite links 131 In January 2022 SpaceX deployed four national security satellites for the US government on their Transporter 3 rideshare mission 129 132 In the same year they launched another group of four U S satellites with a single on orbit spare Globalstar FM 15 satellite in June 133 129 134 135 Their purpose was not disclosed at the time of launch but was considered likely either technical demonstration communications earth observation or signals intelligence It is suspected the four SpaceX built Tranche 0 Tracking Layer satellites due to launch in Q1 2023 are also based on the Starshield satellite bus 136 Military communications Edit In 2019 tests by the United States Air Force Research Laboratory AFRL demonstrated a 610 Mbit s data link through Starlink to a Beechcraft C 12 Huron aircraft in flight 137 Additionally in late 2019 the United States Air Force successfully tested a connection with Starlink on an AC 130 Gunship 138 In 2020 United States Air Force utilized Starlink in support of its Advanced Battlefield management system during a live fire exercise They demonstrated Starlink connected to a variety of air and terrestrial assets including the Boeing KC 135 Stratotanker 139 Use in Ukraine Edit Vitali Klitschko Mayor of Kyiv and his brother Wladimir Klitschko with Starlink terminals shipped to Kyiv during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Main article Starlink satellite services in Ukraine On 26 February 2022 Elon Musk announced that Starlink satellites had been activated over Ukraine after a request from the Ukrainian government 140 to replace internet services destroyed during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine 141 By 6 April 2022 SpaceX had sent over 5000 Starlink terminals to Ukraine to allow Ukrainians access to the Starlink network 142 SpaceX had donated 3667 or 73 of the 5000 terminals and removed the monthly service fees and USAID had purchased the balance of the terminals 143 According to The Washington Post The Starlink equipment sent to Ukraine was funded by SpaceX including partial funding by the U S Agency for International Development as well as the governments of France and Poland 144 145 By mid August Ukraine internet service was being provided by more than 20 000 Starlink terminals some from foreign partners and volunteers in addition to many provided directly by SpaceX During the war Ukrainians can use Starlink terminals without paying the normal monthly subscription fee 146 by year end Musk estimated the cost of Starlink s donation at 20 million per month 147 In May 2022 a Starlink enabled Ukrainian Internet App was the key component of a successful new artillery fire coordination system 148 While military and government use of the Starlink has been the most important aspect of opening Ukraine to low altitude satellite internet services in early 2022 civilians are also heavily using the technology to keep in touch with the outside world and tell loved ones that they are alive 146 On September 30 Ukrainian forces reported major Starlink outages across the frontline resulting in catastrophic losses of communication 149 CNN reported Starlink services had to be requested by Ukrainian forces as new areas were liberated 150 Availability and regulatory approval by country Edit Starlink availability map by country Approved and activated Activated Unknown In order to offer satellite services in any nation state International Telecommunication Union ITU regulations and long standing international treaties require that landing rights be granted by each country jurisdiction and within a country by the national communications regulators As a result even though the Starlink network has near global reach at latitudes below approximately 60 broadband services can only be provided in 40 countries as of September 2022 151 SpaceX can also have business operation and economic considerations that may make a difference in which countries Starlink service is offered in which order and how soon For example SpaceX formally requested authorization for Canada only in June 2020 152 the Canadian regulatory authority approved it in November 2020 65 and SpaceX rolled out service two months later in January 2021 153 As of September 2022 Starlink services were on offer in 40 countries 151 with applications pending regulatory approval in many more 154 Japan s major mobile provider KDDI announced a partnership with SpaceX to begin offering in 2022 expanded connectivity for its rural mobile customers via 1 200 remote mobile towers 155 On 25 April 2022 Hawaiian Airlines announced an agreement with Starlink to provide free internet access on its aircraft becoming the first airline to use Starlink 156 By July 2022 Starlink internet service was available in 36 countries and 41 markets 157 In May 2022 it was announced that regulatory approval had been granted for Nigeria Mozambique and the Philippines 158 159 160 clarification needed However delays have set back a launch until mid 2023 161 Countries Continent Country Debut Notes1 North America United States Puerto Rico United States Virgin Islands Limited trials August 2020 162 public beta November 2020 60 First authorized region The FCC approved SpaceX s proposed modification of its license in 2021 163 2 North America Canada January 2021 153 3 Europe United Kingdom January 2021 164 4 Europe Germany March 2021 165 5 Oceania New Zealand April 2021 166 6 Oceania Australia April 2021 167 7 Europe France Saint Martin Saint Barthelemy Guadeloupe Martinique Original debut May 2021 168 169 Revoked April 2022 170 Re approved June 2022 171 Approval originally given in February 2021 but the Conseil d Etat annulled that Decision on 5 April 2022 due to lack of public consultation 170 Approval was given again after consultation was completed on 2 June 2022 171 Service expanded to Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy in July 2022 157 Service expanded to Martinique and Guadeloupe in September 2022 172 8 Europe Austria May 2021 168 9 Europe Netherlands May 2021 173 10 Europe Belgium May 2021 174 11 Europe Ireland Limited trials April 2021 175 public beta July 2021 176 12 Europe Denmark July 2021 177 13 Europe Portugal August 2021 178 14 Europe Switzerland August 2021 179 15 South America Chile Limited trials July 2021 180 public beta September 2021 181 16 Europe Poland September 2021 182 17 Europe Italy September 2021 183 18 Europe Czech Republic September 2021 184 19 Europe Sweden October 2021 185 20 North America Mexico November 2021 186 21 Europe Croatia November 2021 187 22 Europe Lithuania December 2021 188 189 23 Europe Spain January 2022 190 24 Europe Slovakia January 2022 191 25 Europe Slovenia January 2022 192 26 Oceania Tonga February 2022 193 Emergency relief provided one month after the 2022 Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha apai eruption and tsunami ground station established in neighboring Fiji for six months27 South America Brazil January 2022 194 195 28 Europe Bulgaria February 2022 196 29 Europe Ukraine February 2022 140 197 141 Initially supplied as emergency relief in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine See Starlink satellite services in Ukraine 30 Europe Romania April 2022 198 31 Europe Greece April 2022 199 32 Europe Latvia April 2022 200 33 Europe Hungary May 2022 201 34 Europe North Macedonia June 2022 202 35 Europe Luxembourg July 2022 157 36 North America Dominican Republic July 2022 203 37 Europe Moldova August 2022 204 38 Europe Estonia August 2022 205 39 South America Colombia August 2022 206 207 208 209 40 Europe Norway August 2022 210 41 Europe Malta September 2022 151 42 Asia Iran September 2022 211 Activated in response to Iranian censorship as a result of Iranian protests against compulsory hijab 212 43 Asia Japan October 2022 213 44 North America Jamaica October 2022 214 45 Europe Finland November 2022 215 Technology EditSatellite hardware Edit The Internet communication satellites were expected to be in the smallsat class of 100 to 500 kg 220 to 1 100 lb mass and were intended to be in low Earth orbit LEO at an altitude of approximately 1 100 km 680 mi according to early public releases of information in 2015 In the event the first large deployment of 60 satellites in May 2019 were 227 kg 500 lb 216 and SpaceX decided to place the satellites at a relatively low 550 km 340 mi due to concerns about the space environment 217 Initial plans as of January 2015 update were for the constellation to be made up of approximately 4 000 cross linked 218 satellites more than twice as many operational satellites as were in orbit in January 2015 28 The satellites will employ optical inter satellite links and phased array beam forming and digital processing technologies in the Ku and Ka microwave bands super high frequency SHF to extremely high frequency EHF according to documents filed with the U S FCC 219 220 While specifics of the phased array technologies have been disclosed as part of the frequency application SpaceX enforced confidentiality regarding details of the optical inter satellite links 221 Early satellites were launched without laser links The inter satellite laser links were successfully tested in late 2020 222 223 The satellites will be mass produced at a much lower cost per unit of capability than previously existing satellites Musk said We re going to try and do for satellites what we ve done for rockets 224 In order to revolutionize space we have to address both satellites and rockets 28 Smaller satellites are crucial to lowering the cost of space based Internet and communications 225 In February 2015 SpaceX asked the FCC to consider future innovative uses of the Ka band spectrum before the FCC commits to 5G communications regulations that would create barriers to entry since SpaceX is a new entrant to the satellite communications market The SpaceX non geostationary orbit communications satellite constellation will operate in the high frequency bands above 24 GHz where steerable Earth station transmit antennas would have a wider geographic impact and significantly lower satellite altitudes magnify the impact of aggregate interference from terrestrial transmissions 226 Internet traffic via a geostationary satellite has a minimum theoretical round trip latency of at least 477 milliseconds ms between user and ground gateway but in practice current satellites have latencies of 600 ms or more Starlink satellites are orbiting at 1 105 to 1 30 of the height of geostationary orbits and thus offer more practical Earth to sat latencies of around 25 to 35 ms comparable to existing cable and fiber networks 227 The system will use a peer to peer protocol claimed to be simpler than IPv6 it will also incorporate end to end encryption natively 228 Starlink satellites use Hall effect thrusters with krypton gas as the reaction mass 216 229 for orbit raising and station keeping 230 Krypton Hall thrusters tend to exhibit significantly higher erosion of the flow channel compared to a similar electric propulsion system operated with xenon but krypton is much more abundant and has a lower market price 231 User terminals Edit SpaceX board member Steve Jurvetson holding a Starlink user terminal in June 2020 The system does not directly connect from its satellites to handsets like the constellations from Iridium Globalstar Thuraya and Inmarsat Instead it is linked to flat user terminals the size of a pizza box which have phased array antennas and track the satellites The terminals can be mounted anywhere as long as they can see the sky 218 This includes fast moving objects like trains 232 Photographs of the customer antennas were first seen on the internet in June 2020 supporting earlier statements by SpaceX CEO Musk that the terminals would look like a UFO on a stick Starlink Terminal has motors to self adjust optimal angle to view sky 233 The antenna is known internally as Dishy McFlatface 234 235 In October 2020 SpaceX launched a paid for beta service in the U S called Better Than Nothing Beta charging 499 for a user terminal with an expected service of 50 Mbps to 150 Mbps and latency from 20 ms to 40 ms over the next several months 96 From January 2021 the paid for beta service was extended to other continents starting with the United Kingdom 236 A larger high performance version of the antenna is available for use with the Starlink Business service tier 76 In September 2020 SpaceX applied for permission to put terminals on 10 of its ships with the expectation of entering the maritime market in the future 237 Ground stations Edit SpaceX has made applications to the FCC for at least 32 ground stations in United States and as of July 2020 update has approvals for five of them in five states Starlink uses the Ka band to connect with ground stations 238 A typical ground station right now when has nine 2 86m antennas in a 400 sqm fenced in area 239 According to their filing SpaceX s ground stations would also be installed on site at Google data centers world wide 71 Satellite revisions Edit MicroSat Edit MicroSat 1a and MicroSat 1b were originally slated to be launched into 625 km 388 mi circular orbits at approximately 86 4 inclination and to include panchromatic video imager cameras to film images of Earth and the satellite 240 The two satellites MicroSat 1a and MicroSat 1b were meant to be launched together as secondary payloads on one of the Iridium NEXT flights but they were instead used for ground based tests 241 Tintin Edit At the time of the June 2015 announcement SpaceX had stated plans to launch the first two demonstration satellites in 2016 242 but the target date was subsequently moved out to 2018 243 SpaceX began flight testing their satellite technologies in 2018 243 with the launch of two test satellites The two identical satellites were called MicroSat 2a and MicroSat 2b 244 during development but were renamed Tintin A and Tintin B upon orbital deployment on 22 February 2018 The satellites were launched by a Falcon 9 rocket and they were piggy pack payloads launching with the Paz satellite Tintin A and B were inserted into a 514 km 319 mi orbit Per FCC filings 245 they were intended to raise themselves to an 1 125 km 699 mi orbit the operational altitude for Starlink LEO satellites per the earliest regulatory filings but stayed close to their original orbits SpaceX announced in November 2018 that they would like to operate an initial shell of about 1600 satellites in the constellation at about 550 km 340 mi orbital altitude at an altitude similar to the orbits Tintin A and B stayed in 48 The satellites orbit in a circular low Earth orbit at about 500 km 310 mi altitude 246 in a high inclination orbit for a planned six to twelve month duration The satellites communicate with three testing ground stations in Washington State and California for short term experiments of less than ten minutes duration roughly daily 242 247 v0 9 test Edit The 60 Starlink v0 9 satellites launched in May 2019 have the following characteristics 216 Flat panel design with multiple high throughput antennas and a single solar array Mass 227 kg 500 lb Hall effect thrusters using krypton as the reaction mass for position adjustment on orbit altitude maintenance and deorbit Star tracker navigation system for precision pointing Able to use Department of Defense provided debris data to autonomously avoid collision 248 Altitude of 550 km 340 mi 95 of all components of this design will quickly burn in Earth s atmosphere at the end of each satellite s lifecycle v1 0 operational Edit The Starlink v1 0 satellites launched since November 2019 have the following additional characteristics citation needed 100 of all components of this design will completely demise or burn up in Earth s atmosphere at the end of each satellite s life 249 Ka band added 250 Mass 260 kg 570 lb One of them numbered 1130 and called DarkSat had its albedo reduced using a special coating but the method was abandoned due to thermal issues and IR reflectivity 251 252 All satellites launched since the ninth launch at August 2020 have visors to block sunlight from reflecting from parts of the satellite to reduce its albedo further 253 254 255 256 v1 5 operational Edit The Starlink v1 5 satellites launched since 24 January 2021 have the following additional characteristics Lasers for inter satellite communication 257 Mass 295 kg 650 lb Visors that blocked sunlight were removed from satellites launched from September 2021 onwards 258 Starshield operational Edit Main article STARSHIELD These are satellites buses with two solar arrays derived from starlinks v1 5 and v2 0 for military use and can host classified government or military payloads 259 v2 0 planned Edit SpaceX was preparing for the production of Starlink v2 0 satellites by early 2021 260 According to Elon Musk Starlink v2 0 satellites will have useful bits of data is almost an order of magnitude better than Starlink 1 in terms of communications bandwidth 261 SpaceX hopes to begin launching Starlink v2 0 in 2022 As of May 2022 update SpaceX had said publicly that the satellites of second generation Gen2 constellation would need to be launched on Starship as they are too large to fit inside a Falcon 9 fairing citation needed However in August 2022 SpaceX made formal regulatory filings with the FCC that indicated they would build satellites of the second generation Gen2 constellation in two different but technically identical form factors one with the physical structures tailored to launching on Falcon 9 and one tailored for the launching on Starship 108 262 Starlink v2 0 is both larger and heavier than Starlink v1 satellites Starlink second generation satellites planned for launch on Starship have the following characteristics 263 262 Lasers for inter satellite communication 264 Mass 1 250 kg 2 760 lb Length 7 m 23 ft Further improvements to reduce its brightness including the use of a dielectric mirror film 265 On 2 016 of the initially licensed 7 500 satellites 266 Gen2 Starlink satellites will also include an approximately 25 square meter antenna that would allow T Mobile subscribers to be able to communicate directly via satellite through their regular mobile devices 108 It will be implemented via a German licensed hosted payload developed together with SpaceX s subsidiary Swarm Technologies and T Mobile 266 This hardware is supplemental to the existing Ku band and Ka band systems and inter satellite laser links that have been on the first generation satellites launching as of mid 2022 citation needed Further in October 2022 SpaceX redefined some early v2 0s so there are 3 different busses of v2 0s 267 Bus F9 1 planned 303 kg mass having roughly the same dimensions and mass as the current V1 5 satellites Bus F9 2 planned sometimes called V2 mini 108 800 kg mass and measuring 4 1 m 13 ft by 2 7 m 8 ft 10 in with a total array of 120 m2 1 300 sq ft It could offer around 3 4 times more usable bandwidth per satellite 268 Bus Starship planned 2000 kg mass Launches EditFurther information List of Starlink launches Between February 2018 and 2022 SpaceX successfully launched 2 091 satellites into orbit In March 2020 SpaceX reported producing six satellites per day 269 The deployment of the first 1 440 satellites was planned in 72 orbital planes of 20 satellites each 270 with a requested lower minimum elevation angle of beams to improve reception 25 rather than the 40 of the other two orbital shells 48 17 SpaceX launched the first 60 satellites of the constellation in May 2019 into a 550 km 340 mi orbit and expected up to six launches in 2019 at that time with 720 satellites 12 60 for continuous coverage in 2020 271 272 Starlink satellites are also planned to launch on Starship an under development rocket of SpaceX with a much larger payload capability The initial announcement included plans to launch 400 Starlink version 1 0 satellites at a time 273 Current plans now call for Starship to be the only launch vehicle to be used to launch fewer of the much larger Starlink version 2 0 The Starlink constellation phase 1 first orbital shell 72 orbits with 22 each therefore 1584 satellites at 550 km altitude Constellation design and status Edit First Generation Edit Contains all v0 9 and first generation satellites Tintin A and Tintin B as test satellites are not included Phase Group designation Orbital shells Orbital planes 274 Committed completion date Deployed satellitesAltitude km Planned satellites Incli nation Count Satellitesper Half Full Active 19 December 2022 Decaying deorbited 19 December 20221 275 Group 1 276 550 km 340 mi 1584 277 53 0 72 22 March 2024 aimed 1 August 2022 achieved 278 March 2027 1478 279 247 279 Group 2 570 km 350 mi 720 70 36 20 49 279 2 279 Group 3 280 560 km 350 mi 348 97 6 6 58 187 279 10 279 Group 4 540 km 340 mi 1584 53 2 72 22 1570 279 67 279 560 km 350 mi 172 97 6 4 43 02 281 a 335 9 km 208 7 mi a 2493 42 0 November 2024 November 2027 0340 8 km 211 8 mi a 2478 48 0 0345 6 km 214 7 mi a 2547 53 0 0 a b c d SpaceX plans to abandon the approved phase 2 configuration Early designs had all phase 1 satellites in altitudes of around 1 100 1 300 km 680 810 mi SpaceX initially requested to lower the first 1584 satellites and in April 2020 requested to lower all other higher satellite orbits to about 550 km 340 mi 282 283 In April 2020 SpaceX modified the architecture of the Starlink network SpaceX submitted an application to the FCC proposing to operate more satellites in lower orbits in the first phase than the FCC previously authorized The first phase will still include 1 440 satellites in the first shell orbiting at 550 km 340 mi in planes inclined 53 0 270 with no change to the first shell of the constellation launched largely in 2020 284 SpaceX also applied in the United States for use of the E band in their constellation 285 The FCC approved the application in April 2021 286 287 288 On 24 January 2021 SpaceX released a new group of 10 Starlink satellites the first Starlink satellites in polar orbits The launch surpassed ISRO s record of launching the most satellites in one mission 143 taking to 1 025 the cumulative number of satellites deployed for Starlink to that date 289 290 On 3 February 2022 49 satellites were launched as Starlink Group 4 7 A G2 rated geomagnetic storm occurred on 4 February caused the atmosphere to warm and density at the low deployment altitudes to increase Predictions were that up to 40 of the 49 satellites might be lost to drag 291 In the event 38 satellites reentered the atmosphere by 12 February while the remaining 11 were able to raise their orbits and avoid loss due to the storm 292 293 In October 2022 SpaceX notified the FCC it plans to add V band payload to the second generation satellites rather than fly phase 2 V band satellites as originally planned and authorized 294 The request is subject to FCC approval Second Generation Edit Phase Group designation Orbital shells Orbital planes 295 a Committed completion date Deployed satellitesAltitude km Planned satellites Incli nation Count Satellitesper Half Full Active 19 December 2022 Decaying deorbited 19 December 20221 b Group 5 298 530 km 330 mi 3360 b 43 299 28 120 1 December 2028 297 1 December 2031 297 54 01 b 525 km 326 mi 3360 b 53 28 1201 b 535 km 332 mi 3360 b 33 28 120 SpaceX abandoned configuration 2 proposed in the amendment 296 a b c d e f The FCC limited phase 1 to 7 500 satellites across 3 shells 297 Impact on astronomy Edit Signal pollution in a 333 second exposure image taken from the Blanco four meter 13 telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter American Observatory Starlink in Tubingen Germany Starlink 1619 seen by the Hubble Space Telescope The planned large number of satellites has been met with criticism from the astronomical community because of concerns over light pollution 300 301 302 Astronomers claim that the number of visible satellites will outnumber visible stars and that their brightness in both optical and radio wavelengths will severely impact scientific observations While astronomers can schedule observations to avoid pointing where satellites currently orbit it is getting more difficult as more satellites come online 303 The International Astronomical Union IAU National Radio Astronomy Observatory NRAO and Square Kilometre Array Organization SKAO have released official statements expressing concern on the matter 304 305 306 On 20 November 2019 the four meter 13 Blanco telescope of the Cerro Tololo Inter American Observatory CTIO recorded strong signal loss and the appearance of 19 white lines on a DECam shot right image This image noise was correlated to the transit of a Starlink satellite train launched a week earlier 307 SpaceX representatives and Musk have claimed that the satellites will have minimal impact being easily mitigated by pixel masking and image stacking 308 However professional astronomers have disputed these claims based on initial observation of the Starlink v0 9 satellites on the first launch shortly after their deployment from the launch vehicle 309 310 311 312 In later statements on Twitter Musk stated that SpaceX will work on reducing the albedo of the satellites and will provide on demand orientation adjustments for astronomical experiments if necessary 313 314 One Starlink satellite Starlink 1130 DarkSat launched with an experimental coating to reduce its albedo The reduction in g band magnitude is 0 8 magnitude 55 315 316 Despite these measures astronomers found that the satellites were still too bright thus making DarkSat essentially a dead end 317 On 17 April 2020 SpaceX wrote in an FCC filing that it would test new methods of mitigating light pollution and also provide access to satellite tracking data for astronomers to better coordinate their observations with our satellites 318 319 On 27 April 2020 Musk announced that the company would introduce a new sunshade designed to reduce the brightness of Starlink satellites 318 As of 15 October 2020 update over 200 Starlink satellites had a sunshade An October 2020 analysis found them to be only marginally fainter than DarkSat 320 A January 2021 study pinned the brightness at 31 of the original design 321 According to a May 2021 study The large number of fast moving transmitting stations i e satellites will cause further interference New analysis methods could mitigate some of these effects but data loss is inevitable increasing the time needed for each study and limiting the overall amount of science done 322 In February 2022 the International Astronomical Union IAU established a center to help astronomers deal with the adverse effects of satellite constellations such as Starlink Work will include the development of software tools for astronomers advancement of national and international policies community outreach and work with industry on relevant technologies 323 In June 2022 the IAU released a website for astronomers to deal with some adverse effects via satellite tracking This will enable astronomers to be able to track satellites to be able to avoid and time them for minimal impact on current work 324 Increased risk of satellite collision EditThe large number of satellites employed by Starlink may create long term danger of space debris resulting from placing thousands of satellites in orbit and the risk of causing a satellite collision potentially triggering a phenomenon known as Kessler syndrome 325 326 SpaceX has said that most of the satellites are launched at a lower altitude and failed satellites are expected to deorbit within five years without propulsion 327 Early in the program a near miss occurred when SpaceX did not move a satellite that had a 1 in 1 000 chance of colliding with a European one ten times higher than ESA s threshold for avoidance maneuvers SpaceX subsequently fixed an issue with its paging system that had disrupted emails between ESA and SpaceX ESA said it plans to invest in technologies to automate satellite collision avoidance maneuvers 328 329 In 2021 Chinese authorities lodged a complaint with the United Nations saying their space station had performed evasive maneuvers that year to avoid Starlink satellites 330 In the document Chinese delegates said that the continuously maneuvering Starlink satellites posed a risk of collision and two close encounters with the satellites in July and October constituted dangers to the life or health of astronauts aboard the Chinese Tiangong space station 331 All these reported issues plus current plans for the extension of the constellation motivated a formal letter from National Telecommunications and Information Administration NTIA on behalf of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA and the National Science Foundation NSF submitted to FCC on 8 February 2022 warning about the potential impact on LEO orbit increased collision risk impact on science missions rocket launches International Space Station and Radio frequencies Interferences Resting credibility on the arguments for collision self avoidance reported by SpaceX 332 Competition and market effects EditSee also Satellite constellation Communications satellite constellations and Satellite internet constellation In addition to the OneWeb constellation announced nearly concurrently with the SpaceX constellation a 2015 proposal from Samsung outlined a 4 600 satellite constellation orbiting at 1 400 km 870 mi that could provide a zettabyte per month capacity worldwide an equivalent of 200 gigabytes per month for 5 billion users of Internet data 333 334 but by 2020 no more public information had been released about the Samsung constellation Telesat announced a smaller 117 satellite constellation in 2015 with plans to deliver initial service in 2021 335 Amazon announced a large broadband internet satellite constellation in April 2019 planning to launch 3 236 satellites in the next decade in what the company calls Project Kuiper a satellite constellation that will work in concert 336 with Amazon s previously announced large network of twelve satellite ground station facilities the AWS ground station unit announced in November 2018 337 In February 2015 financial analysts questioned established geosynchronous orbit communications satellite fleet operators as to how they intended to respond to the competitive threat of SpaceX and OneWeb LEO communication satellites 338 In October 2015 SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell indicated that while development continues the business case for the long term rollout of an operational satellite network was still in an early phase 339 By October 2017 the expectation for large increases in satellite network capacity from emerging lower altitude broadband constellations caused market players to cancel some planned investments in new geosynchronous orbit broadband communications satellites 340 SpaceX was challenged regarding Starlink in February 2021 when the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association NRECA a political interest group representing traditional rural internet service providers urged the U S Federal Communications Commission FCC to actively and aggressively and thoughtfully vet the subsidy applications of SpaceX and other broadband providers At the time SpaceX had provisionally won 886 million for a commitment to provide service to approximately 643 000 locations in 35 states as part of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund RDOF 341 The NRECA criticisms included that the funding allocation to Starlink would include service to locations such as Harlem and terminals at Newark Liberty International Airport and Miami International Airport that are not rural and because SpaceX was planning to build the infrastructure and serve any customers who request service with or without the FCC subsidy 341 Additionally Jim Matheson chief executive officer of the NRECA voiced concern about technologies that had not yet been proven to meet the high speeds required for the award category Starlink was specifically criticized for being still in beta testing and an unproven technology 342 While Starlink is deployed worldwide it has encountered trademark conflicts in some countries such as Mexico 343 Similar or competitive systems EditMain articles Satellite internet constellation and Satellite constellation Two way communication OneWeb satellite constellation a satellite constellation project that began operational deployment of satellites in 2020 344 China national satellite internet project a planned satellite internet offering for the Chinese market 345 Kuiper Systems a planned 3 236 LEO satellite Internet constellation by an Amazon subsidiary Hughes Network Systems a current broadband satellite provider providing fixed cellular backhaul and airborne antennas Viasat Inc a current broadband satellite provider providing fixed ground mobile and airborne antennas O3b Medium Earth orbit constellation that provides access to mobile phone operators and internet service providers It covers only the equatorial region See also EditAST SpaceMobile a satellite to mobile phone satellite constellation working with large mobile network operators such as Vodafone AT amp T Orange Rakuten Telestra Telefonica etc with the objective to provide broadband internet coverage to existing unmodified mobile phones Orbcomm an operational constellation used to provide global asset monitoring and messaging services from its constellation of 29 LEO communications satellites orbiting at 775 km Globalstar an operational low Earth orbit LEO satellite constellation for satellite phone and low speed data communications covering most of the world s landmass Iridium an operational constellation of 66 cross linked satellites in a polar orbit used to provide satellite phone and low speed data services over the entire surface of Earth Lynk Global a satellite to mobile phone satellite constellation with the objective to coverage to traditional low cost mobile devices Teledesic a former 1990s venture to accomplish broadband satellite internet services Project Loon former concept to provide internet access via balloons in the stratosphereReferences Edit Starlink Group 4 5 Falcon 9 Block 5 Everyday Astronaut 8 January 2022 Retrieved 2 January 2023 Ralph Eric 30 May 2022 SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reveals next generation Starlink satellite details Teslarati Retrieved 5 June 2022 Grush Loren 15 February 2018 SpaceX is about to launch two of its space Internet satellites the first of nearly 12 000 The Verge Archived from the original on 16 June 2019 Retrieved 16 February 2018 a b Kolodny Lora 25 August 2022 SpaceX and T Mobile team up to use Starlink satellites to end mobile dead zones CNBC Retrieved 26 August 2022 McDowell Jonathan 9 July 2022 Starlink Launch Statistics planet4589 Retrieved 18 December 2022 a b c SpaceX 19 December 2022 Starlink now has more than 1 000 000 active subscribers Tweet via Twitter a b Baylor Michael 17 May 2018 With Block 5 SpaceX to increase launch cadence and lower prices NASASpaceFlight com Archived from the original on 18 May 2018 Retrieved 22 May 2018 The system is designed to improve global Internet access by utilizing thousands of satellites in Low Earth orbit SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell stated in a TED Talk last month that she expects the constellation to cost at least US 10 billion Therefore reducing launch costs will be vital Winkler Rolfe Pasztor Andy 13 January 2017 Exclusive Peek at SpaceX Data Shows Loss in 2015 Heavy Expectations for Nascent Internet Service The Wall Street Journal Eastern Edition The Wall Street Journal Retrieved 9 February 2018 Etherington Darrell SpaceX hopes satellite Internet business will pad thin rocket launch margins 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Archived from the original on 23 September 2020 Retrieved 23 May 2019 a b c Foust Jeff 2 December 2022 FCC grants partial approval for Starlink second generation constellation SpaceNews Retrieved 4 December 2022 Updating Rules for Non Geostationary Satellite Orbit Fixed Satellite Service Constellations PDF FCC 7 September 2017 p 44 Archived PDF from the original on 12 May 2021 Brodkin Jon 4 October 2017 SpaceX and OneWeb broadband satellites raise fears about space debris Ars Technica Archived from the original on 6 October 2017 Retrieved 7 October 2017 FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services Federal Communications Commission 29 March 2018 Archived from the original on 17 November 2020 Retrieved 31 March 2018 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain Brodkin Jon 30 March 2018 FCC approves SpaceX plan to launch 4 425 broadband satellites Ars Technica Archived from the original on 17 November 2020 Retrieved 30 March 2018 Henry 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authorized to operate at an altitude of 1 150 km 710 mi to an altitude of 550 km 340 mi and to make related changes to the operations of the satellites in this new lower shell of the constellation This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain SpaceX non geostationary satellite system Attachment A Technical Information to Supplement Schedule S U S Federal Communications Commission 8 November 2018 Archived from the original on 17 November 2020 Retrieved 23 November 2018 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain a b Henry Caleb 26 April 2019 FCC OKs lower orbit for some Starlink satellites SpaceNews Archived from the original on 17 November 2020 Retrieved 28 April 2019 lower the orbit of nearly 1 600 of its proposed broadband satellites The Federal Communications Commission said 26 April 2019 it was correct with SpaceX changing its plans to orbit those satellites at 550 km 340 mi instead of 1 150 km 710 mi SpaceX says the adjustment requested six months ago will make a safer space environment since any defunct satellites at the lower altitude would reenter the Earth s atmosphere in five years even without propulsion The lower orbit also means more distance between Starlink and competing Internet constellations proposed by OneWeb and Telesat FCC approval allows satellite companies to provide communications services in the United States The agency granted SpaceX market access in March 2018 for 4 425 satellites using Ku band and Ka band spectrum and authorized 7 518 V band satellites in November 2018 SpaceX s modified plans apply to the smaller of the two constellations SpaceX submits paperwork for 30 000 more Starlink satellites 15 October 2019 Archived from the original on 25 April 2020 Retrieved 16 October 2019 SpaceX Services Application for Blanket licensed Earth stations fcc report FCC 1 February 2019 Archived from the original on 29 May 2019 Retrieved 9 February 2019 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain FCC Form 442 Application for new or modified radio station under Part 5 of FCC rules Experimental radio service 0517 EX CN 2019 Federal Communications Commission Archived from the original on 17 November 2020 Retrieved 4 July 2019 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain 0517 EX CN 2019 Application Question 7 Purpose of Experiment FCC June 2019 Retrieved 4 July 2019 SpaceX seeks experimental authority for two types of testing 1 a total of 70 user terminals mixed between the two types of antennas so that it can test multiple devices at a number of geographically dispersed locations throughout the United States and 2 up to 200 phased array user terminals to be deployed within the state of Washington at the homes of SpaceX employees for ongoing testing Such authority would enable SpaceX to obtain critical data regarding the operational performance of these user terminals and the SpaceX NGSO system permanent dead link This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain FCC FORM 442 APPLICATION FOR NEW OR MODIFIED RADIO STATION UNDER PART 5 OF FCC RULES EXPERIMENTAL RADIO SERVICE 0515 EX CN 2019 Federal Communications Commission Archived from the original on 17 November 2020 Retrieved 4 July 2019 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain Application question 7 Purpose of Experiment FCC June 2019 Archived from the original on 17 November 2020 Retrieved 4 July 2019 SpaceX seeks an experimental authorization to test activities tests are designed to demonstrate the ability to transmit and receive information 1 between five ground sites Ground to Ground and 2 between four ground sites and an airborne aircraft Ground to Air This application seeks only to use an Earth station to transmit signals to the SpaceX satellites first from the ground and later from a moving aircraft This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain Ralph Eric 8 April 2019 SpaceX s first dedicated Starlink launch announced as mass production begins Teslarati Archived from the original on 17 November 2020 Retrieved 9 April 2019 SpaceX submits paperwork for 30 000 more Starlink satellites 15 October 2019 Archived from the original on 15 October 2019 Retrieved 16 October 2019 Musk Elon elonmusk 22 October 2019 Sending this tweet through space via Starlink satellite Tweet Archived from the original on 21 January 2022 Retrieved 5 February 2022 via Twitter a b Mathewson Samantha 5 November 2020 SpaceX opens Starlink satellite internet to public beta testers Space com Archived from the original on 5 November 2020 Retrieved 11 March 2021 SpaceX s Starlink Internet speeds are consistently topping 150 Mbps now Elon Musk says the biggest challenge is slashing the US 600 up front cost for users Business Insider Archived from the original on 17 November 2020 Retrieved 6 November 2020 SpaceX opens Starlink satellite 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Retrieved 11 August 2022 Starlink appeals FCC rejection of 886M grant calls reversal grossly unfair Ars Technica 12 September 2022 Retrieved 15 September 2022 APPLICATION FOR BLANKET LICENSED EARTH STATIONS IN MOTION PDF Federal Communications Commission FCC Archived PDF from the original on 9 March 2021 Retrieved 7 March 2021 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain Alvarez Simon 6 March 2021 Starlink FCC application reveal plans for satellite internet in moving vehicles teslarati com Archived from the original on 6 March 2021 Retrieved 7 March 2021 a b Novet Jordan 13 May 2021 Google wins cloud deal from Elon Musk s SpaceX for Starlink internet connectivity CNBC Archived from the original on 13 May 2021 Viasat asks FCC to halt Starlink launches while it seeks court ruling SpaceNews 25 May 2021 Archived from the original on 1 October 2021 Retrieved 26 May 2021 Ralph Eric 1 July 2021 SpaceX says Starship can beat plasma blackout with Starlink 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against the status quo Retrieved 1 January 2020 Kenneth Chang 30 May 2020 Entrepreneur Tries His Midas Touch in Space New York Times The New York Times Trevithick Joseph 21 September 2018 SpaceX Exec Says Company Would Launch A Weapon Into Space In Defense Of This Country Retrieved 1 January 2023 Erwin Sandra 5 October 2020 L3Harris SpaceX win Space Development Agency contracts to build missile warning satellites SpaceNews Retrieved 1 December 2021 Machi Vivienne 1 June 2021 US Military Places a Bet on LEO for Space Security Space Development Agency Retrieved 1 December 2021 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain Erwin Sandra 14 September 2022 Space Development Agency s first launch slips due to supply chain setbacks Retrieved 15 September 2022 Sandra Erwin 9 Dec 2022 Space Development Agency s first launch slips to March due to satellite glitch Hypersonic Missile Defense Issues for Congress Congressional Research Service 22 January 2022 Retrieved 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21 April 2020 Archived from the original on 22 April 2020 Retrieved 14 June 2020 Application for Fixed Satellite Service by Space Exploration Holdings LLC SAT MOD 20200417 00037 fcc report FCC 17 April 2020 Archived from the original on 17 November 2020 Retrieved 26 January 2021 Space Exploration Holdings LLC seeks to modify its Ku Ka band NGSO license to relocate satellites previously authorized to operate at altitudes from 1110 km to 1325 km down to altitudes ranging from 540 km to 570 km and to make related changes This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain SpaceX modifies Starlink network design Spaceflight Now 21 April 2020 Archived from the original on 17 November 2020 Retrieved 22 April 2020 Starlink Gen2 FCC Application Narrative Attachment FCC 26 May 2020 Archived from the original on 17 November 2020 Retrieved 18 June 2020 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain li, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, 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