What You Absolutely Need to Know About Elon Musk’s Starlink.
Tags: Starlink Internet, Internet, Spacex, Technology, Elon Musk

Have you ever been frustrated waiting so long for a broadband internet service at your remote location? If yes, then SpaceX’s Starlink has some good news for you. Starlink is Elon Musk’s ambitious project, which aims to deliver high-speed broadband connectivity no matter where you live on the planet. Starlink public beta service wowed its users and test results show that Starlink satellite internet can deliver blazing-fast download speeds.

Without further ado, let’s dive deep into Starlink Satellite Internet.

What is Starlink?

Starlink is a satellite-based broadband service designed to deliver high-speed internet connectivity to anywhere else on the planet. Starlink comprises a network of satellites operated in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at a distance of 550 km above the Earth’s surface.

Starlink satellite features a compact design and weighs just 260 Kg (573 pounds). The satellite is on the leading edge of technology, which autonomously de-orbits the spacecraft once it reaches its life-cycle.

SpaceX equipped Starlink satellite with four phased array antennas, which enable data transfer in a short duration. Thanks to its built-in navigation sensors, which provide accurate altitude information for precision data transfer.

The first SpaceX’s Starlink mission launched with Falcon 9 rocket, which deployed 60 satellites into space. To date, with fifteen consecutive missions, SpaceX has successfully launched 900 satellites on Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

Image Courtesy : SpaceX on Unsplash

How Does Starlink Internet Works?

The Starlink ground station transmits internet data signals to its satellites orbiting on LEO. One of its satellites receives the signals and communicates it with other satellites in its constellation using lasers.

When the signals reach the satellite which covers the receiver area, then it transmits the signals to the ground user terminal.

Since Starlink satellites operated in LEO, the up and downlink latency is comparatively low during the data transmission. Because the satellites are much closer to the ground receivers, hence, it can cover only a limited area. To provide extensive coverage, the number of satellites is vital in their network constellation.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States has approved SpaceX to deploy 12,000 satellites on LEO. The company requested permission for furthermore 30,000 satellites to provide worldwide coverage. SpaceX plans to deploy 120 satellites per month. This could lead Starlink to cover extensive areas and so they can offer sophisticated service in rural areas and remote regions.

A Starlink Satellite (dotted straight line) Spoted in the Night Sky. Credits : Andy Holmes on Unsplash

Starlink — The Next-Gen Internet

Starlink internet service is now undergoing public beta named “Better Than Nothing Beta” in parts of the Northern US and Canada. Starlink aims to expand its service rapidly to the rest of the world by 2021 says the company’s website.

Starlink is ambitious about delivering high speed, low latency, broadband internet connectivity to remote locations where internet is expensive, unreliable or completely unavailable.

The public beta users reported on various online portals that their internet speed ranges from 50 to 150 Mbps, with intermittent outages and latency differs between 20 to 40 ms (Millisecond).

The Starlink user terminal kit priced at $499 and the internet subscription fee priced at $99 per month with no data caps.

Final thoughts

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the bid winners of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase 1 auction, recently. Elon Musk founded SpaceX company has won around nine hundred million dollars in federal subsidies.

This fund will bring internet connectivity in rural and hard-to-reach areas in the United States through SpaceX’s Starlink project.

Deploying the Starlink satellites on Low Earth Orbit is exorbitant for SpaceX. The company estimated that it cost around 10 billion US dollars to build and launch the first phase of 4,400 satellites. However, Business Insider report shows that the company can generate revenue of $50 billion a year from the Starlink project, once it serves the global market. Elon Musk deems that this revenue would fund his visionary dream project of colonizing the red planet, Mars.