Posted on 04/07/2021 6:22:03 AM PDT by billorites
In the next few months, SpaceX could have more than 1,600 of its Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit, and that may be enough for the nascent broadband service to reach just about anywhere in the world.
"After about 28 launches, we'll have continuous coverage throughout the globe," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said Tuesday during an online panel discussion for the Satellite 2021 LEO Digital Forum.
The 23rd operational Starlink launch is set for Wednesday. That means we're about a half dozen launches away from the point Shotwell describes. SpaceX has already successfully conducted seven dedicated Starlink launches in 2021 so far (along with 10 more of the satellites on the Transporter-1 rideshare).
The pace of launches looks to be slower in April, but the company should easily reach 28 launches in a matter of months.
That would seem to be a more optimistic timeline than what founder Elon Musk predicted in February, when he said the aim was coverage for "most of Earth by end of year, all by next year."
Shotwell added that once SpaceX has enough Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit to reach anywhere on the planet, future launches become about adding satellites to increase the capacity of the network. She also made the bold prediction that Starlink will be able to serve every rural household in the United States within three to five years.
Starlink has been in a beta test since October, steadily expanding to more countries and regions around the world.
Shotwell didn't reveal any specifics about how long the trial period will last, saying the company is currently working to increase reliability and reduce connectivity drop-outs. She said Starlink will move out of beta "when we have a really great product that we are proud of."
Shotwell also said SpaceX has no plans for tiered pricing for Starlink. She did not say if the beta test rate of $99 per month (£72, AU$129) will remain, but did note that the cost of the terminal is expected to come down substantially over the next couple of years.
SpaceX has said it costs the company about $1,500 (roughly £1,085, AU$1,958) to make each user terminal, but beta testers are only asked to pay $499 (£360, AU$652). Shotwell says that cost should come all the way down to just a few hundred dollars per terminal, which could significantly reduce the upfront investment to sign up for the service.
Elon is blessed by the hand of God................
I pay about $90 now for wireless line-of-sight broad band now. Download usually fine except when we have bad weather then it is a coin flip if we will have service. Upload is acceptable with no problems that I am aware of.
I went to the provider’s modem since min got knocked out three times by lightning so I made that their problem. Guess what? They installed a surge protector they didn’t bother to mention to me before. Problem solved for $10 a month.
Skynet anyone?
That sentiment might change my friend. :)
It is easy to claim the speeds they claim when only 500 users are tapping a system designed for 3,000 users at a time. Things change when there are 10,000 users tapping a system only designed for 3,000 users at a time. This is already a shared bandwidth issue current providers just cannot beat yet. I am afraid this will be the exact same case with Starlink in the end. I hope I am wrong, but I am going to call it now.
He’s definitely now in rarified air, nearing the likes of Carnegie, Ford and Morgan.
What’s so remarkable is that he’s not only enjoyed success in the automotive space, but in other endeavors as well. He may be unique among historical entrepreneurs in that regard.
Ford was an anti-semite....................
As the system grows more ‘crowded’, starved for bandwidth, newer satellites can be put up as technology allows................
Modern day Howard Hughes-like visionary.
He lands boosters on drone barges after blasting off with huge payloads. That science alone just floors me. Amazing every time I see it.
So tell me once again why Biden is determined to dump billions of dollars in “Broadband infrastructure”?
Seems to me the private sector is doing just fine.
Live coverage of this morning’s launch starts in about two hours:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asOBj2TXk58
The $500 equipment buy in is what is stopping me. I live in Eastern Washington where they initially placed these satellites into service and have excellent coverage.
I currently have wireless internet and pay $80/month for 20mbs down and 10mbs up. It mostly stable but when I have an issue the provider is Johnny on the spot to make corrections. Plus this is month to month service with no contract.
The $500 equipment buy in is what is stopping me. I live in Eastern Washington where they initially placed these satellites into service and have excellent coverage.
I currently have wireless internet and pay $80/month for 20mbs down and 10mbs up. It mostly stable but when I have an issue the provider is Johnny on the spot to make corrections. Plus this is month to month service with no contract.
Haha, years ago, I worked for a company that installed satellite systems in countries with some very remote areas.
You drive 300 miles on rain-soaked clay “roads”, a large truck is turned over blocking the road. The driver is okay and camped out in a makeshift hammock in the undercarriage of the truck until somebody comes along with a vehicle big enough to pull his truck back on to it’s feet. Or at least until the next passerby gets to the city to send help. So now you have to go back 70 miles and cross the river on a ferry operated by an old man wearing a Michael Jordan Bulls jersey, cranking the ferry across on a rope wound between two 55 gallon drums and accepts batteries, maybe a radio, candy bars and clothes for payment.
After making up the lost 70 miles and adding another 100, you come to another crossing to get back on the right side of the river. Similar deal, maybe the last ferry operator’s cousin, who knows. Eventually you come to a village with mud and straw huts and little kids running around (in more basketball shirts of various NBA players) and at the center of the village sits a small concrete building which serves as the constable’s office. Looming behind the building is a 700 foot tower. Back inside the building is a 26” Mitsubishi TV tuned in to CNN...
Keep the government out of technology “infrastructure” projects and private interests will figure out how to supply a needed product or service.
I can just imagine how much faster advancements in home and local power generation would have developed without FDR’s subsidized “rural electrification” putting federal government investment into the model of massive power plants sending power hundreds of miles away.
It was not that alternatives were not possible, it was government power to subsidize one model meant private capital could not compete investing in alternatives.
Here is a live map of Starlink coverage. It seems pretty decent, but most domestic ground stations are not complete and operational. Seems like still in licensing stage with FCC...
They are already cutting the output of my solar panels... lol
We are beta testors for Starlink. Just received our dish and bracket, installed that yesterday, hook up today!
Hoping to beat the current speed of our internet, currently at 5 mps, most of you have 100, 500 or more.
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