As the world’s leading provider of launch services – and the only provider with an orbital class reusable rocket –SpaceX operates a fleet of 10 ocean going vessels designed to safely and reliably recover rockets and spacecraftthat take both humans and cargo to orbit.
The mission critical nature of these operations places a significant demand on offshore network solutions todeliver data on the spot, regardless of operating location or weather conditions.

Three of the 10 vessels in SpaceX’s recovery fleet, including one of our droneships (center) which is used to land rockets at sea.

Prior to Starlink, SpaceX’s maritime recovery fleet relied on traditional geostationary satellite internet service(VSAT), which came with high latency, low bandwidth, and poor reliability. The systems were also challenging toinstall and required frequent maintenance.

At over $165k per month for 25 Mb/s download by 25 Mb/s upload of pre-paid bandwidth, satellite internet was
one of the top operating costs for SpaceX’s recovery fleet. And because the vehicle can generate 100s of GBs ofdata, SpaceX regularly paid costly overage fees.

Under an experimental license, SpaceX recovery teams had the opportunity to test and develop Starlink’s maritime
terminals prior to market release with dramatic results:

5900%

700%95%70%

Added Download
Throughput

Added Upload
Throughput

Reduction in
Latency

Reduction in
Cost

With a max upload speed of 40Mb/s on each installation, Starlink has enabled the transfer of 100s of GB of data
within hours of the rocket landing. This was not possible with the VSAT system.
Starlink also reduced latency to just 50ms, allowing operators to respond faster for even greater control over theirfleet.

At a flat rate of $5k per vessel per month, SpaceX will see a nearly 70% reduction in monthly internet cost for thefleet after implementation of Starlink, all while expanding capability and total throughput.

As the maritime industry moves toward an autonomous future, affordable, low latency bandwidth to deliver
terabytes of data back to shore command centers is paramount.
SpaceX lands the first stage of its rocket on remotely operated, dynamically positioned vessels called “Droneships”
stationed in the ocean downrange from the launch site. These vessels are self-propelled, unmanned systems
monitored by a remote operator in the Launch and Landing Control Center. From this remote console, the operator
has total visibility, control and maritime domain awareness over the unmanned vessel, as well as communication
links to personnel in multi-purpose support vessels nearby.
Before Starlink Maritime, the 1-2 second latency of VSAT would cause lag and delayed feedback from gigabytes oftelemetry, closed-circuit television (CCTV), and navigation data streaming from the Droneship. With a latency of50ms, Starlink enables even greater awareness on systems offshore, empowering operators to make the mostinformed decisions.
In addition to latency challenges, with VSAT, the lack of bandwidth coupled with the intense vibrations from therocket engines often led to total dropouts in video and data.

LEFT: frame of a Falcon 9 rocket landing at sea using VSAT systems. RIGHT: frame of a Falcon 9 rocket landing at sea using Starlink.

With Starlink, the throughput boost combined with exceptional connection stability enables continuous live video
during rocket landings and improved the video quality.

As SpaceX’s launch cadence has accelerated in recent years, the time spent by the teams and vessels offshore has
increased significantly. More time at sea drives additional risk to crew, and communications are key to minimizingthat risk.
With Starlink, SpaceX has seen improved connection reliability, including in thunderstorms and thick cloud cover,which has helped reduce crew isolation while at sea.
SpaceX recovery members are now able to have video calls with their families during long stretches at sea. During
off-time, they can stream movies and play online, latency dependent multiplayer games, all while offshore.