The future of megaconstellations
Originally, SpaceX planned to connect every satellite to its neighbors using lasers that would let the spacecraft communicate with one another. But the first batch of Starlink satellites launched without this ability.
So for now, service relies on a system of ground stations called gateways. These stations are positioned around the world and exchange signals with the Starlink satellites, tapping them into existing fiber-optic infrastructure. So, a user’s home antenna connects to a Starlink satellite as it passes overhead, which in turn links them into the nearest gateway. As a result, in addition to their own antenna, users need to have a ground station within roughly 500 miles of their location to get service.
Things wont stay that way for long, though. Starlink engineers have already experimented with a batch of test satellites that uses lasers to communicate. Instead of connecting people to a nearby ground station, the lasers would let the satellites talk to each other directly at the speed of light, which is faster in the vacuum of space than in fiber optic cables. In a Reddit AMA (“Ask Me Anything”) session, company engineers said the tech is still too expensive and challenging to manufacture in volume, but they expect it to roll out in future generations of satellites.
Of course, it wasn’t too long ago that this whole project was too technically challenging to pull off. In the 1990s, several companies tried and failed, ultimately going bankrupt. Those services were hobbled by costly launches and electronics that weren’t quite ready for the task. That disappointing history forced even Musk to take a measured tone when discussing Starlink during the projects infancy.
Yet, the Starlink launches have now become so routine that last month, SpaceX marked its 100th consecutive successful Falcon 9 launch. Even with just a portion of the eventual constellation deployed, more than 10,000 customers already have been given access to a beta version of Starlink’s internet service. It’s now clear that SpaceX not only has revolutionized the rocket launch industry, but also figured out how to use those rockets to take advantage of the rapid miniaturization of modern electronics.
It’s looking increasingly likely that Starlink will help solve high-speed internet problems in at least some rural areas. And with Musk planning to eventually launch hundreds of Starlink satellites with each launch of SpaceX’s Starship vehicle, much of the planet could someday get its internet signal from space. At one point, the company said it was making six Starlink satellites every single day.
The lingering question now is how many competitors will follow suit, and how many satellites will ultimately make up these megaconstellations?
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