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from the space-is-becoming-a-crowded-place dept.
SpaceX gets FCC license for 1 million satellite-broadband user terminals
SpaceX has received government approval to deploy up to 1 million user terminals in the United States for its Starlink satellite-broadband constellation.
SpaceX asked the Federal Communications Commission for the license in February 2019, and the FCC announced its approval in a public notice last week. The FCC approval is for "a blanket license for the operation of up to 1,000,000 fixed earth stations that will communicate with [SpaceX's] non-geostationary orbit satellite system." The license is good for 15 years.
[...] One million terminals would only cover a fraction of US homes, but SpaceX isn't necessarily looking to sign up huge portions of the US population. Musk said at the conference that Starlink will likely serve the "3 or 4 percent hardest-to-reach customers for telcos" and "people who simply have no connectivity right now, or the connectivity is really bad." Starlink won't have lots of customers in big cities like LA "because the bandwidth per cell is simply not high enough," he said.
SpaceX's main Starlink constellation competitor is running out of money
OneWeb, the only pressing competitor facing SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet constellation, has reportedly begun to consider filing for bankruptcy shortly before the London-based company completed its third dedicated launch.
Following the completion of its first full 34-satellite launch with a Russian Soyuz rocket on February 7th, OneWeb managed to complete a second launch on March 22nd just a few days after Bloomberg revealed its bankruptcy concerns. OneWeb now has 74 ~150-kg (330 lb) satellites in orbit – roughly 11% of its initial 650-satellite constellation. Like SpaceX, OneWeb's goal is to manufacture and launch an unprecedented number of high-performance small satellites for a per-spacecraft cost that would have previously been inconceivable.
[...] Requiring numerous revolutions in satellite manufacturing, antenna production, and launch vehicle affordability, as well as a vast and complex network of ground terminals, numerous companies have tried and failed to rise to the challenge over the decades. Original Globalstar, Teledesic, and Iridium constellations all raised more than $10 billion in the 1990s under the promise of blanketing the Earth with internet from space. All wound up bankrupt at one point or another.
See also: The true impact of SpaceX's Starlink constellation on astronomy is coming into focus
Previously:
SpaceX Seeks Approval for 1 Million Starlink Ground Stations, Faces Pentagon Audit
SpaceX and OneWeb Clash Over Proposed Satellite Constellation Orbits
OneWeb Joins the Satellite Internet Gold Rush this Week
OneWeb Launches its First Large Batch of Broadband Satellites, Plans March Launch and April Break
How Does Starlink Work Anyway?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @01:25PM (7 children)
How small can SpaceX make these "user terminals"? If they get down to a USB stick (plus remote antenna that folds up?) the international business travelers can bring their own with them. Of course they may still be illegal to use in certain countries...
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday March 25 2020, @01:51PM (6 children)
Not very small. Terminal is 0.48 meters in diameter. From the Ars comments:
But then there is a competitor that wants to do smartphones:
Megaconstellation startup raises $110 million to connect smartphones via satellite [spacenews.com]
Either way, it might not be smart to use it to try to pierce the Chinese firewall. They might be able to detect you and hunt you down. Might work out better in less resourceful countries/dictatorships.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 25 2020, @03:31PM (3 children)
But officer, it's not an antenna, it's a new high tech electronic Wok for cooking my favorite Asian foods.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 25 2020, @03:32PM
Like Tacos!
Or Pizza!
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday March 26 2020, @02:11PM (1 child)
I believe it's a flat phased array antenna rather than a dish. A dish would have to be constantly moving to stay pointed at the satellite, and temporarily lose connection every time it had to switch to a new one.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday March 26 2020, @02:17PM
Not a dish. Maybe a fairly flat dome. I've heard it "looks like a UFO". But rumors are just rumors.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday March 25 2020, @06:51PM
I know there's definitely this capability with radio transmissions. Ham Radio clubs practice that sometimes. I would assume, tracking Satellite transmissions would be doable, but more difficult.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 26 2020, @12:18AM
Half a meter isn't that bad for hiding if your creative.
If subsidizing SpaceX is part of the purpose of this project, then they should probably open source the base station designs. My expectation is that if they did, they would sell more service contracts to people in totalitarian states. Free speech is at a premium over there (at least for now), so that is where the market is most profitable.