Starlink is the name of a network of satellites developed by private spaceflight company SpaceX, initially aiming to provide low-cost internet to remote locations. Starlink is ideal for areas where connectivity is unreliable or completely unavailable, but it has expanded the service offering to different locations.
Markets served by Starlink satellites
In a post published on May 20, 2024 on X (formerly Twitter), the CEO of Space X, Elon Musk, informed that the Starlink is connecting more than 3 million users in 99 countries , through more than 6,000 Starlink satellites in orbit , providing high-speed internet.
Starlink satellites are being used not only by residential and business customers, but also by airlines offering in-flight internet services and by cruise ships so passengers can stay connected while at sea, as well as other applications, as per we'll see.
Why Starlink's In-flight WiFi is a Game Changer³ - Source: Primal Space
Events such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods or wildfires destroy or severely damage terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure, leaving affected communities completely isolated from the outside world.
With Starlink, first responders can quickly transport and configure user terminals virtually anywhere and get online in a matter of minutes, bypassing the need for any ground-based infrastructure.
Satellite visibility
A day or two after the launch and deployment of Starlink satellites, no special equipment is needed to see them as they are visible to the naked eye. They appear as a series of pearls or a "train" of bright lights moving across the night sky.
If you wish, you can try to find the Starlink satellites visible in your country, using coordinates provided by FindStarlink
After launch, until reaching around 440 kilometers above Earth, the Falcon 9 rocket transports and deploys its batch of 60 Starlink satellites, in a “parking orbit”. From there, individual satellites unfold their solar panels and slowly begin to spread across the planet.
Each satellite uses its thrusters to gradually rise to a higher altitude, rising into its eventual final orbit about 100 miles above the International Space Station's orbit. They become progressively more difficult to detect because, as the satellites rise, they become dimmer, reflecting less sunlight back to Earth, until they reach their final orbital height of about 550 km.
Goals
Starlink's central objectives are to solve two major problems of the modern internet: the lack of accessible connections to distant geographic areas and/or without terrestrial communications structure and high latency¹ .
Traditional internet services through cables and optical fibers have limitations inherent to the characteristics of the service. Even within a country, it is rare to achieve a direct cabling path from one location to another. Relying on terrestrial cables also leaves many regions poorly connected.
The challenge of overcoming high latency, one of Starlink's central objectives, is relevant, due to the enormous impacts it can cause. To get an idea of the losses that can be caused by high latency, let’s look at some examples:
For those trying to watch videos, series, films online, high latency can mean crashes or loss of video quality. When browsing social networks, the maximum recommended latency is 50 to 100 ms for good performance. When playing, the maximum oriented latency is 30 ms, to avoid loss of competitiveness.
Financial operations, for security reasons, may be canceled if there is a delay in sending information. Banks move billions of dollars in fractions of a second, any delay can lead to big losses for a competitor that operates with a faster connection.
Online classes with constant crashes make access to course content unfeasible.
E-commerces that take time to load can cause a loss of online sales.
Work and video conferences, via high-latency internet, can be impacted by productivity losses or even become unfeasible.
Starlink satellites make it possible to access essential online services and resources in rural communities that were often unserved by traditional internet providers. Starlink allows hospitals and field clinics to hold real-time video conferences with doctors and specialists thousands of miles away. Medical images such as X-rays or CT scans can be shared instantly for remote diagnosis. Patients with chronic conditions can have remote check-ins and follow-ups with healthcare professionals. Starlink makes these advanced telehealth applications possible even in extremely remote or resource-limited environments.
Remote teaching is also favored, with the possibility of accessing online classes, research, sharing study materials, now possible for communities isolated due to the lack of terrestrial communications infrastructure or even because they have been hit by destructive events.
How it works
Customers purchase a terrestrial antenna to access Starlink's internet service. When plugged in, the self-steering antenna quickly scans the sky and locks onto the nearest overhead satellite. Then, it seamlessly maintains that connection as each new Starlink satellite comes into view and the previous one disappears beyond the horizon.
Starlink antennas are certified to operate between -22° Fahrenheit (minimum temperature) to 104° Fahrenheit (maximum temperature), which, on the Celsius scale, corresponds to -30° Celsius to 40° Celsius.
Elon Musk's Starlink Impact video (By Geoff Aba) ³
Historic
January . 2015: SpaceX satellite internet proposal ² announced.
February 2018: SpaceX launched its first two Starlink prototypes, called Tintin-A and Tintin-B. The test helped demonstrate the basic concept and refine the satellite's design.
May 23, 2019: The first 60 Starlink satellites were launched into low Earth orbit aboard a SpaceX rocket and successfully reached an operational altitude of 340 miles (550 kilometers) above Earth.
October.2020: Starlink standard internet service launched.
Jan.2021: Laser terminals, or laser crosses, have been added to a batch of Starlink satellites, which allows the satellites to transfer information to each other.
May.2021: 100th consecutive launch of the Falcon 9 rocket, carrying Starlink satellites for launch into space.
June.2021: More than 1,500 active satellites, making Starlink satellites the largest constellation of satellites around the Earth, more than half of all active satellites that circled our planet.
Aug.2022: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert announced an agreement between the two companies in August 2022 and plan to provide the service to T-Mobile customers after the satellite launches Starlink V2 complete.
February 27, 2023: SpaceX began launching an updated version of Starlink, called V2 mini. The V2 mini serves as a precursor version of the fully designed V2. The complete Starlink V2 satellites will be launched on the Starship rocket on a date yet to be confirmed. When they do, the larger V2 satellites will have a greater data capacity than their predecessors and the ability to deliver services directly to cellular devices.
May 2024: The milestone of 6,078 Starlink satellites in orbit is reached. To reach that number, for the past few years, every two weeks a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has lifted off and transported a new batch of about 60 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit.
July 3, 2024: Falcon 9 launch to transport 20 Starlink satellites, including 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities, to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Space Force Station Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Starlink has been active in initiatives that go beyond business, in humanitarian aid in contexts of destruction, resulting from the action of nature and/or human action.
In response to emergencies, the Starlink website states: “By not having the limitations of traditional terrestrial infrastructure, Starlink can be quickly deployed to assist emergency teams in disaster situations.
The Starlink team is proud to support and prioritize its service to emergency responders around the world and will continue to increase that support as we expand our coverage areas . ”
Humanitarian action in support of emergency situations
Starlink's role in helping Ukraine
Starlink has been a vital piece of Ukraine's communications infrastructure. Ukrainian government authorities publicly requested Starlink terminals on February 26, 2022, and two days later on February 28. 2022, the first Starlink equipment arrived.
In early April 2022, SpaceX and the United States Agency for International Development ( USAID ), announced the delivery of approximately 5,000 Starlink terminals to Ukraine, with SpaceX directly supplying more than 3,000 of them. The number has grown considerably since then, to 25,000, according to the company's founder and CEO, Elon Musk.
Starlink's role in helping Florida, United States
After Hurricane Ian devastated parts of Florida in 2022, Starlink was able to quickly deploy terminals to restore internet to emergency responders in the hardest-hit areas, such as Fort Myers Beach .
Similarly, Starlink has provided Internet access to support emergency response efforts following natural disasters in Tonga, Samoa and other Pacific islands hit by tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.
Starlink's role in helping Tonga, Samoa and other Pacific islands
As of February 2022, at least 50 Starlink terminals have been shipped to Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. The aim was to give its residents free access to the Internet, especially in remote villages. Tonga needed the terminals after suffering a massive volcano eruption and tsunami in January, as did Samoa and other Pacific islands that were also hit and assisted by Starlink. At the time, SpaceX said the terminals will allow communications to flow in some of the regions with the worst effects resulting from the eruption.
Starlink's role in helping the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
The floods in Rio Grande do Sul , Brazil, resulting from intense rain between April 27 and May 5, 2024, caused a situation of sudden and unimaginable drama, with deaths, homelessness, total loss and damage to homes, commercial establishments, automobiles, stoppages of various activities, among other enormous difficulties. This has required gigantic relief efforts, assistance, donations and mobilizations aimed at recovering material losses, which will be slow, due to the enormity of the damage caused, as 85% of the cities in the State were affected. Businessman Elon Musk decided to donate 1,000 Starlink antennas to the State of Rio Grande do Sul. The donation included the provision of data services, free of charge, until the region recovers. The first batch was received at the Air Base in the city of Canoas-RS, on May 11, 2024 and the second and final batch was delivered the following day, at the same Air Base. In a statement, the Government of Rio Grande do Sul announced that the Starlink antennas will help “reestablish communication at the main points of Civil Defense, Public Security, health units, schools and essential public services during the period that the calamity continues” .
Elon Musk's Starlink: How Is It Helping Humanity? ³ Source : youtube.com/@Cosmoknowledge
Questions and clarifications
As seen, undoubtedly, the existence of the Starlink satellite megaconstellation provides extraordinary benefits to humanity, however, there are questions.
Astronomers have long complained about satellites affecting their ability to explore space through observations using ground-based telescopes due to sunlight reflecting off orbiting machinery.
In response, Patricia Cooper, vice president of satellite government affairs at SpaceX, informed astronomers at a January 2020 meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Honolulu that “SpaceX is absolutely committed to finding a path forward so that our Starlink project does not impede the value of the research you are all carrying out.”
SpaceX has taken steps in this regard. For example, recently launched Starlink satellites have visors designed to reduce the glare of sunlight on their structure.
There are also questions about the disposal of old satellites and the risk of satellite collisions with spacecraft.
In February 2022, SpaceX published a statement on its website that sets out why it believes that Starlink will never litter Earth's orbit with space debris or cause orbital collisions with other satellites.
SpaceX claims it is a leader in satellite safety and has stated that a NASA program has already reviewed the anti-collision avoidance system for Starlink satellites. Each Starlink satellite is built with an anti-collision avoidance system capable of maneuvering the satellite. “If there is a 1/100,000 probability of collision (10x lower than the industry standard of 1/10,000) for a conjunction, the satellites will plan avoidance maneuvers,” the company said.
SpaceX has teams of satellite operators to coordinate and respond to requests from other satellite companies, 24/7.
The satellites were also tested for high reliability. SpaceX has launched more than 2,000 satellites for the first-generation Starlink network, with a failure rate of “just 1% after orbit raising.”
According to satellite tracker and astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, 358 Starlink satellites were deorbited. There were no reports of its wreckage reaching the ground.
“To be clear, SpaceX satellites are designed and built to completely terminate during atmospheric re-entry, during end-of-life disposal, and they do that,” wrote David Goldstein, SpaceX principal engineer, in a letter sent to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the United States Congress, on October 9, 2023.
All Starlink satellites operate in a “self-cleaning” low Earth orbit below 600 kilometers, meaning the satellites will naturally deorbit in five to six years and disintegrate in the atmosphere, generating no debris.
“SpaceX is striving to be the most open and transparent satellite operator in the world,” the company added , “and we encourage other operators to join us in sharing orbital data and keeping the public and governments up to date with detailed information about operations and practices.”
Additionally, the company said it is already openly sharing information about Starlink orbits with the FCC , the Federal Communications Commission, the US telecommunications and broadcasting regulator, and Space-Track.org , a public website.
“Ultimately, space sustainability is a technical challenge that can be effectively managed with appropriate risk assessment, information exchange, and appropriate implementation of technology and operational controls,” SpaceX said.
Starlink Mini: new launch of Starlink in the United States
Available only in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama, SpaceX has launched early sales of the Starlink Mini in the United States in June 2024, for a limited number of invited customers, for US$599.
According to PCMag, in the United States, customers will also need to pay US$30 per month to receive internet via the portable antenna, as an add-on to their existing home service plan, which can currently cost US$90 or US$120. a month.
Starlink Mini is a portable satellite dish that has built-in Wi-Fi that has the ability to transmit multiple 4K video streams simultaneously. The new antenna weighs 1.10 kg (2.43 lb), dimensions 289x259 mm (11.4x9.8 inches), with a size close to an Apple MacBook. This compares favorably to the regular Starlink satellite dish, which is larger: 51x30 cm (22.2x11.9 inches). The best part about the Starlink Mini antenna is that it has a built-in Wi-Fi router, so you won't need a separate router that attaches to your current Starlink antenna.
SpaceX's Starlink Mini: Internet Anywhere! !³ - Source: Enlighten Hub
Based on a speed test screenshot shared by Musk, Starlink Mini offers 100 Mbps download speed and 11.5 Mbps upload speed with 23 ms latency. This beats some landline and mobile phone connections while being good enough for streaming and surfing the net.
The integrated Wi-Fi router supports WiFi 5 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac) and also has an Ethernet port with “Starlink Plug”. The Starlink Mini antenna has only two connectors: a DC pipe for the power supply external connector and an RJ45 network connector.
If you need to extend coverage to a wider area, you'll be happy to know that the Starlink Mini antenna is mesh compatible with Starlink satellites, allowing you to wirelessly pair it with another Starlink router.
The antenna comes with a power supply, but the specifications also suggest that it can be powered via USB-C PD, as long as the supply can supply 20V at 5A.
Starlink Innovations
The traditional satellite-connected Internet, which predated Starlink, works using large spacecraft that orbit 23,236 miles (35,686 km) above a specific point on Earth. But at this distance, there are often significant delays in sending and receiving data. By being closer to our planet and networks together, at a final orbital height of around 550 km, Starlink satellites operate with an advantage over traditional satellites.
Starlink satellites were designed to transport large amounts of information quickly to any point on Earth, even over oceans and in extremely hard-to-reach places where fiber optic cables would be expensive to lay.
Instead of sending internet signals through electrical cables, which must be physically laid down to reach distant places, satellite internet works by sending information through the vacuum of space, where it travels 47% faster than fiber optic cables, it said. o Business Insider.
According to Mark Handley, a computer networking researcher at University College London, who studied Starlink, in an interview with Business Insider, each Starlink satellite is linked to four others, using lasers . No other internet-providing satellite does this, and that's what would make them special: they can beam data onto the Earth's surface at nearly the speed of light, bypassing the limitations of fiber optics.
Laser technology has been integrated into Starlink satellites that have been sent into space starting in 2021. SpaceX hopes this move could allow satellite internet coverage to reach areas where ground stations cannot be built, explained Gwynne Shotwell , president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, on August 24, 2021, during the 36th Annual Space Symposium, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States.
“This is the most exciting new network we’ve seen in a long time. Starlink satellites, in operation, can affect the lives of potentially everyone," said Mark Handley.
For The Clarus Networks Group (2024), “[...] Its unique combination of global coverage, resiliency, high bandwidth, low latency and portable deployment capabilities is unmatched by any previous satellite internet system. Starlink empowers humanitarian workers, emergency teams and relief agencies to maintain vital connectivity and enable powerful applications like telehealth, remote education and real-time coordination – even after infrastructure-crippling disasters. Perhaps most importantly, Starlink represents a major step toward bridging the digital divide that has left so many underserved communities isolated from the immense opportunities of the internet age. By making broadband Internet accessible globally, Starlink can be the common thread that unlocks economic development, educational resources, financial inclusion and overall socioeconomic progress for those who need it most. The humanitarian impact of this technology is truly limitless as we work to create a more connected, resilient and equitable world."
By Luiz Cincurá
Grades:
1.Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, commonly referred to as SpaceX, was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk. It is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launch services provider, and satellite communications company headquartered in Hawthorne, California.
2.Also known as “ping”, latency is the time difference between the start of an event and the moment its effects become noticeable. In communications, latency is the time it takes for data to be transferred from one location to another. The greater the latency, the greater the delay in transmitting data and information. The lower the latency, the faster the data is transferred.
3. To display subtitles in your native language on YouTube videos, click on settings, English, click on English again and then click on auto translate . Next Scroll down until you find and click on your native language.
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