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posted by martyb on Saturday June 29 2019, @07:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the 95%-success dept.

SpaceX's Starlink program launched an initial sixty satellites on May 23. At least three of these "are no longer in service" and "will passively deorbit." according to a spokesperson for the company.

In other words, the three spacecraft failed and will fall back to Earth, likely within a year because of their relatively low orbit of 273 miles (440 kilometers) above the planet's surface.

SpaceX seems relatively unfazed by the failures, though, since the company never expected all of them to function perfectly given the mission's experimental nature.

SpaceX intentionally implemented the satellites with minor variations.

On a brighter note, 45 of the satellites, which are equipped with small ion engines for maneuvering, have already reached their intended orbits. Five are moving towards their orbits, and five are pending evaluation before maneuvering. Another "[t]wo satellites are being intentionally deorbited to simulate an end of life disposal."

[N]ow that the majority of the satellites have reached their operational altitude, SpaceX will begin using the constellation to start transmitting broadband signals, testing the latency and capacity by streaming videos and playing some high bandwidth video games using gateways throughout North America.

The Starlink program was stung by early comments that the program was negatively affecting astronomy and SpaceX

added that it "continues to monitor the visibility of the satellites as they approach their final orbit" and that they will be measured for their visibility from the ground once there. Those comments are likely meant to address concerns lodged by astronomers about the reflectivity of Starlink spacecraft

The satellites are designed to completely disintegrate upon entering Earth's atmosphere, and the failures may help drive future iterations.

Previous Coverage
Most of SpaceX's Starlink Internet Satellites are Already on Track
SpaceX Satellites Pose New Headache for Astronomers
Third Time's the Charm! SpaceX Launch Good; Starlink Satellite Deployment Coming Up [Updated]
SpaceX to Launch 60 Starlink Satellites: Postponed 1 Day Due to Upper Altitude Winds [UPDATE 2]
SpaceX to Launch 60 Starlink Satellites at Once, and More
SpaceX's First Dedicated Starlink Launch Set for May; Amazon Hired SpaceX Execs for Project Kuiper


Original Submission

Related Stories

SpaceX's First Dedicated Starlink Launch Set for May; Amazon Hired SpaceX Execs for Project Kuiper 7 comments

SpaceX's first batch of operational Starlink satellites will launch no earlier than May 2019:

SpaceX has announced a launch target of May 2019 for the first batch of operational Starlink satellites in a sign that the proposed internet satellite constellation has reached a major milestone, effectively transitioning from pure research and development to serious manufacturing.

R&D will continue as SpaceX Starlink engineers work to implement the true final design of the first several hundred or thousand spacecraft, but a significant amount of the team's work will now be centered on producing as many Starlink satellites as possible, as quickly as possible. With anywhere from 4400 to nearly 12,000 satellites needed to complete the three major proposed phases of Starlink, SpaceX will have to build and launch more than 2200 satellites in the next five years, averaging 44 high-performance, low-cost spacecraft built and launched every month for the next 60 months.

[...] According to SpaceX filings with the FCC, the first group of operational satellites – potentially anywhere from 75 to 1000 or more – will rely on just one band ("Ku") for communications instead of the nominal two ("Ku" and "Ka"), a change that SpaceX says will significantly simplify the first spacecraft. By simplifying them, SpaceX believes it can expedite Starlink's initial deployment without losing a great deal of performance or interfering with constellations from competitors like OneWeb.

Amazon's planned 3,236-satellite broadband constellation, Project Kuiper, is being developed by former SpaceX employees:

Amazon's satellite internet plan is increasingly looking like the one Elon Musk has at SpaceX, with thousands of spacecraft that are compact in size. Among the reasons for the similarities, people tell CNBC, is that Jeff Bezos has hired some of Musk's previous senior management.

Former SpaceX vice president of satellites Rajeev Badyal and a couple members of his team are now leading Amazon's Project Kuiper, people familiar with the situation told CNBC.

[...] Badyal previously ran the "Starlink" division at SpaceX, which launched its first two test satellites last year. [...] Musk fired Badyal in June, one of the people said, confirming reports last year that the SpaceX CEO had become frustrated with the pace of Starlink's development. That was about four months after the launch of the first two Starlink test satellites. According to FCC documents, Starlink will become operational once at least 800 satellites are deployed.

Previously: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Fired Managers and Employees in June to Shake Up Starlink Project
SpaceX Seeks Approval for 1 Million Starlink Ground Stations, Faces Pentagon Audit
SpaceX and OneWeb Clash Over Proposed Satellite Constellation Orbits

Related: Relativity Space Selected to Launch Satellites for Telesat


Original Submission

SpaceX to Launch 60 Starlink Satellites at Once, and More 13 comments

takyon, realDonaldTrump and James Orme bring us news of all things SpaceX:

SpaceX to Launch 60 Starlink Satellites at Once, and More

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reveals radical Starlink redesign for 60-satellite launch

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has published the first official photo of the company's near-final Starlink design and confirmed that Falcon 9 will launch a staggering 60 satellites on May 15th.

Known internally as Starlink v0.9, this mission will not be the first launch of operational satellites, but it will be the first internal SpaceX mission with a dedicated Falcon 9 launch. Additionally, the payload will be the heaviest yet launched by SpaceX, signifying an extraordinarily ambitious first step towards realizing the company's ~12,000-satellite Starlink megaconstellation.

Put simply, SpaceX's Starlink v0.9 launch is extremely unique for several reasons. Aside from the unprecedented step of launching 60 spacecraft weighing ~13,000 kg (~30,000 lb) on a developmental mission, both the form factor of each satellite and the style of dispenser/payload adapter has never been seen before. SpaceX appears to have settled on a square dispenser with four separate quadrants for satellites. The satellites themselves look truly bizarre – it's actually difficult to discern where one spacecraft stops and the next begins. Nevertheless, it appears that each Starlink satellite is a relatively thin rectangle, possibly with a squared top and bottom. It's also possible that they are all around rectangular and that the dispenser instead has two main sections.

SpaceX to Launch 60 Starlink Satellites: Postponed 1 Day Due to Upper Altitude Winds [UPDATE 2] 16 comments

[UPDATE #1 20190516_015859 UTC to reflect change in scheduled window start being delayed 30 minutes. --martyb]

[UPDATE #2 20190516_025012 UTC Launch scrubbed for today; will try again during backup 90-minute window which starts 2230 EDT May 16 (0230 UTC May 17). Just as the broadcast went live, they learned the upper altitude winds were outside of allowable bounds and they decided to postpone the launch until the backup window. --martyb]

Yesterday (May 13th), we posted a story SpaceX to Launch 60 Starlink Satellites at Once, and More. Here are a few more details about Starlink and — more importantly — the launch schedule and a link to the YouTube page to follow along.

SpaceX plans to launch 60 satellites tonight for its next round of development and test towards its goal of deploying Starlink:

SpaceX has plans to deploy nearly 12,000 satellites in three orbital shells by the mid-2020s: initially placing approximately 1600 in a 550-kilometer (340 mi)-altitude shell, subsequently placing ~2800 Ku- and Ka-band spectrum sats at 1,150 km (710 mi) and ~7500 V-band sats at 340 km (210 mi). The total cost of the decade-long project to design, build and deploy such a network is estimated at nearly US$10 billion.

Third Time's the Charm! SpaceX Launch Good; Starlink Satellite Deployment Coming Up [Updated] 17 comments

[Update (20190524_025416 UTC): Launch successful so far, booster landing successful, second stage is now in coast phase, satellite deployment coming up in about 40 minutes. Correction on YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riBaVeDTEWI.]

On May 20th, SpaceX tweeted: "Now targeting May 23 for launch of Starlink from Pad 40 in Florida".

According to Spaceflightnow:

May 23/24 Falcon 9 • Starlink 1
Launch time: 0230-0400 GMT on 24th (10:30 p.m.-12:00 a.m. EDT on 23rd/24th)

Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch 60 satellites for SpaceX's Starlink broadband network. Scrubbed on May 15 and May 16.

The launch will be Live-Streamed on YouTube:

Scheduled for May 23, 2019

SpaceX is targeting Thursday, May 23 for the launch of 60 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. SpaceX's Starlink is a next-generation satellite network capable of connecting the globe, especially reaching those who are not yet connected, with reliable and affordable broadband internet services.

The launch window opens at 10:30 p.m. EDT on May 23, or 2:30 UTC on May 24, and closes at 12:00 a.m. on May 24, or 4:00 UTC. A backup launch window opens on Friday, May 24 at 10:30 p.m. EDT, or 2:30 UTC on May 25, and closes at 12:00 a.m. on May 25, or 4:00 UTC. Falcon 9's first stage for this mission previously supported the Telstar 18 VANTAGE mission in September 2018 and the Iridium-8 mission in January 2019. Following stage separation, SpaceX will attempt to land Falcon 9's first stage on the "Of Course I Still Love You" droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Approximately one hour and two minutes after liftoff, the Starlink satellites will begin deployment at an altitude of 440km. They will then use onboard propulsion to reach an operational altitude of 550km.

Previous coverage:
SpaceX to Launch 60 Starlink Satellites at Once, and More,
SpaceX to Launch 60 Starlink Satellites: Postponed 1 Day Due to Upper Altitude Winds
SpaceX *was* going to Try Starlink Launch Again Today; Mission Scrubbed.


Original Submission

SpaceX Satellites Pose New Headache for Astronomers 24 comments

SpaceX satellites pose new headache for astronomers

It looked like a scene from a sci-fi blockbuster: an astronomer in the Netherlands captured footage of a train of brightly-lit SpaceX satellites ascending through the night sky this weekend, stunning space enthusiasts across the globe.

But the sight has also provoked an outcry among astronomers who say the constellation, which so far consists of 60 broadband-beaming satellites but could one day grow to as many as 12,000, may threaten our view of the cosmos and deal a blow to scientific discovery.

The launch was tracked around the world and it soon became clear that the satellites were visible to the naked eye: a new headache for researchers who already have to find workarounds to deal with objects cluttering their images of deep space.

"People were making extrapolations that if many of the satellites in these new mega-constellations had that kind of steady brightness, then in 20 years or less, for a good part the night anywhere in the world, the human eye would see more satellites than stars," Bill Keel, an astronomer at the University of Alabama, told AFP.

Noting that there are currently about 2,100 satellites aloft, the article continues:

If another 12,000 are added by SpaceX alone, "it will be hundreds above the horizon at any given time," Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics told AFP, adding that the problem would be exacerbated at certain times of the year and certain points in the night.

"So, it'll certainly be dramatic in the night sky if you're far away from the city and you have a nice, dark area; and it'll definitely cause problems for some kinds of professional astronomical observation."

[...] If optical astronomers are concerned, then their radio astronomy colleagues, who rely on the electromagnetic waves emitted by celestial objects to examine phenomena such as the first image of the black hole discovered last month, are "in near despair," he added.

One of the most spectacular sights of my life was being out in the wilderness, far from local light pollution, and seeing the Milky Way shining so brightly that I could not make out any constellations for all the other stars that were now visible. I cannot imagine how concerned astronomers must be to face the prospect of taking long-duration "images' of faint astronomical bodies... and having a satellite fly past at a much brighter magnitude. What, if anything, can be done?


Original Submission

Most of SpaceX's Starlink Internet Satellites are Already on Track 11 comments

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow4463

Most of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites are already on track

The first batch of 60 Starlink internet satellites has been orbiting Earth for about a week, and now SpaceX has released a status update on the mission. According to a spokesperson, "all 60 satellites have deployed their solar arrays successfully, generated positive power and communicated with our ground stations."

The statement didn't directly mention concerns by astronomers about their brightness and visibility, but Elon Musk already has, and they aren't expected to reach their full altitude for three to four weeks. According to SpaceX, "observability of the Starlink satellites is dramatically reduced as they raise orbit to greater distance and orient themselves with the phased array antennas toward Earth and their solar arrays behind the body of the satellite."

Parabolic Arc notes that during a speech at MIT this week, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell mentioned four of the units had unspecified problems, while today's update said "most" are using their Hall thrusters to reach operational altitude and have already made contact with their broadband antennas, but all of them have maneuvering capability to avoid each other and other objects.

Previously: SpaceX to Launch 60 Starlink Satellites


Original Submission

SpaceX Requests Permission to Launch an Additional 30,000 Starlink Satellites, to a Total of 42,000+ 12 comments

SpaceX submits paperwork for 30,000 more Starlink satellites

SpaceX has asked the International Telecommunication Union to arrange spectrum for 30,000 additional Starlink satellites. SpaceX, which is already planning the world's largest low-Earth-orbit broadband constellation by far, filed paperwork in recent weeks for up to 30,000 additional Starlink satellites on top of the 12,000 already approved by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC, on SpaceX's behalf, submitted 20 filings to the ITU for 1,500 satellites apiece in various low Earth orbits, an ITU official confirmed Oct. 15 to SpaceNews.

[...] In its filings, SpaceX said the additional 30,000 satellites would operate in low Earth orbit at altitudes ranging from 328 kilometers to 580 kilometers.

[...] It is not guaranteed that, by submitting numerous filings, SpaceX will build and launch 30,000 more satellites. Tim Farrar, a telecom analyst critical of SpaceX, tweeted that he was doubtful the ITU will be able to review such big filings in a timely manner. He sees the 20 separate filings as a SpaceX effort to "drown the ITU in studies" while proceeding with its constellation.

Nothing a Starship can't launch.

Starlink.

More coverage:


Original Submission

SpaceX to Become World's Largest Satellite Operator; Launch, Booster Landing Successful [UPDATED] 18 comments

[UPDATE (20200107_023514 UTC): Launch went off smoothly and on time. Booster landed safely on the drone ship. Second stage is in proper orbit and currently in coast phase leading up to satellite deployment.]

With Monday night launch, SpaceX to become world's largest satellite operator:

In 2019 SpaceX launched two batches of 60 Starlink satellites—one experimental, and the second operational. On Monday, the company plans to add 60 more satellites with a nighttime launch of the Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

If all goes to plan, this mission will be just the first of as many as 20 Starlink launches this year as SpaceX builds up a constellation of satellites in low-Earth orbit to provide global Internet service. SpaceX may begin to offer "bumpy" service by the middle of this year to some consumers.

Following this next launch, scheduled for 9:19pm ET Monday (02:19 UTC Tuesday), SpaceX will have a constellation of nearly 180 satellites in low-Earth orbit, each weighing a little more than 220kg. This will make the company simultaneously the world's largest private satellite operator (eclipsing Planet Labs), while also being the most active private launch company.

[...] Monday night's launch attempt will occur on a Falcon 9 first stage that has flown three times previously, in September 2018 (Telstar 18 VANTAGE), January 2019 (Iridium-8), and May 2019 (the first experimental Starlink mission). After launching, the first stage will land on the "Of Course I Still Love You" droneship offshore in the Atlantic Ocean. Another vessel, "Ms. Tree," will attempt to recover a payload fairing half. The Starlink satellites themselves will deploy at 61 minutes into the mission, at an altitude of 290km.

A webcast of the mission should begin about 15 minutes prior to launch.

Link to the YouTube webcast.

Previously:


Original Submission #1Original Submission #2

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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by RandomFactor on Saturday June 29 2019, @07:47PM (2 children)

    by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 29 2019, @07:47PM (#861411) Journal

    they can't use the three that died for their reentry tests :-(

    --
    В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
    • (Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday June 29 2019, @10:00PM (1 child)

      by looorg (578) on Saturday June 29 2019, @10:00PM (#861437)

      This is what I was wondering to after reading it, why not just reclassify the failed once for reentry testing? Or was they somehow specially belt with extra "crash and burn" sensors the others doesn't have?

      • (Score: 2) by NateMich on Saturday June 29 2019, @10:24PM

        by NateMich (6662) on Saturday June 29 2019, @10:24PM (#861446)

        This is what I was wondering to after reading it, why not just reclassify the failed once for reentry testing? Or was they somehow specially belt with extra "crash and burn" sensors the others doesn't have?

        Based on the summary, it sounds like the failed ones are just plain broken. That would make it really hard to simulate a controlled reentry.

  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday June 29 2019, @07:48PM (21 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Saturday June 29 2019, @07:48PM (#861412)

    If you can get 95% of them operational for 50% of the budget, or 100% of them operational for twice as much, which way you gonna roll?

    That depends on whether you're a private business, or a government agency with a mission to demonstrate "missile superiority."

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Saturday June 29 2019, @07:53PM (19 children)

      by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Saturday June 29 2019, @07:53PM (#861415) Journal

      All 60 of them probably have to die (before ~7 year max lifespan). They don't have sat-to-sat communications like the final Starlink sats will, so they may be much less useful.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday June 29 2019, @08:01PM (15 children)

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Saturday June 29 2019, @08:01PM (#861417)

        So, if you can launch a system today with a promise to bring all the birds down within 7 years, or you have to fight for permission to launch the real system for 10 years, which way you gonna roll? Cost of doing business, and maybe justifiably so - if they can demonstrate capability with these kinds of launches it makes it less likely that they're just tossing a bunch of junk into orbit (like the US and Russia did for 20+ years...)

        --
        🌻🌻 [google.com]
        • (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday June 29 2019, @08:16PM

          by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Saturday June 29 2019, @08:16PM (#861421) Journal

          Depending on how fast they iterate the design, the 55 remaining sats and other sats launched without sat-to-sat may be an insignificant portion of the total. They can just kill them when they have BFR spewing Starlink sats in a couple years.

          --
          [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 29 2019, @09:40PM (13 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 29 2019, @09:40PM (#861432)
          Right now SpaceX is trying to find a market for their sats. Already they say that in cities this is a losing proposition. Now they are focusing on rural users, but will the US farmers pay for the entire Starlink? There are other markets, like Africa, but they are too poor to matter.
          • (Score: 4, Informative) by martyb on Saturday June 29 2019, @11:07PM (9 children)

            by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 29 2019, @11:07PM (#861462) Journal
            It's not that cities are a losing proposition, but that the limited capability of the swarm of sats would be oversubscribed and result in limited bandwidth per subscriber. Existing wired, cable, or fiber can provide a better bang-for-the-buck than what Starlink can do.

            Cost of installing wired, cable, or fiber in non-urban areas is more than the incumbents want to spend, so Starlink is looking to make their push there.

            Also, the sats are orbiting the entire Earth, so there is bound to be an opportunity in countries besides just the USS.

            Another huge $$$ market is providing comms to ships. I have read rates on the order of hundreds or even thousands of dollars per day Think not just passenger cruise ships, but also commercial transport like tankers, bulk ore, and container ships.

            --
            Wit is intellect, dancing.
            • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Saturday June 29 2019, @11:13PM (2 children)

              by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Saturday June 29 2019, @11:13PM (#861463) Journal

              There will be at least one type of Starlink customer in major cities. Fintechs in New York City and London.

              --
              [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 30 2019, @01:09AM (1 child)

                by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 30 2019, @01:09AM (#861494)
                They will be worried about latency. Also, it is not clear yet what bandwidths (bit rates) can be used. Gateways might become a bottleneck, as they need to handle all the traffic of all the sats that they serve.
                • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday June 30 2019, @06:40AM

                  by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 30 2019, @06:40AM (#861559) Journal

                  I watched the video a couple weeks ago. The ground-based gateways won't serve some fixed set of satellites. The sats are constantly in motion, shifting position. Some entire system will be constantly shuffling data between sats, as well as between gateways. That process, in and of itself, will require a great deal of computational power. It stands to reason, that if some region starts bottlenecking on the ground, a new gateway of six will be installed in that region. Or, the algorithm will be changed to compensate. The thing to remember is, it's all a work in process. At this point in time, they've tossed a small constellation up in the skies, to learn from.

            • (Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Sunday June 30 2019, @12:34AM (3 children)

              by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday June 30 2019, @12:34AM (#861481)

              Wait, didn't I see this movie already? I want to call it Inmarsat, but that might be wrong - it was some kind of doomed AT&T and maybe Motorola thing that put up a perfectly serviceable swarm of satellites for handheld mobile communication, but the handsets were too big and too expensive and the whole thing basically imploded financially.

              --
              🌻🌻 [google.com]
            • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday June 30 2019, @01:43PM (1 child)

              by maxwell demon (1608) on Sunday June 30 2019, @01:43PM (#861610) Journal

              countries besides just the USS.

              I assume the USS is a country halfway between the US and the USSR, right? :-)

              --
              The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
              • (Score: 2) by martyb on Monday July 01 2019, @12:37PM

                by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 01 2019, @12:37PM (#861891) Journal

                countries besides just the USS.

                I assume the USS is a country halfway between the US and the USSR, right? :-)

                Given the time-honored keyboard sequence of ASDF, I would say USS comes right after USA and right before USD. =)

                --
                Wit is intellect, dancing.
          • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday June 30 2019, @06:34AM (1 child)

            by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 30 2019, @06:34AM (#861558) Journal

            "Cities" may be a losing proposition - maybe. Though, I rather doubt that. But, the cities aren't the real target. Past articles published here have shown how a suburb five or ten miles from a city center might have zero choices, or one poor choice, of "broadband" service available. It isn't just the poorest of neighborhoods, either. It's probably safe to say that all of the wealthiest neighborhoods are covered. Either availability attracted the wealthy, or the wealth attracted the availability, but the rest of us have scant pickings.

            Terrain is a serious concern in some parts of the country. West Virginia has entire villages and towns contained in a valley, where wireless doesn't work, and wire is difficult to install. Starlink should reach all, or nearly all, of that terrain.

            I strongly suspect that if Starlink can live up to more than half of it's claims, people will flock to them for business. People from all demographics, from all parts of the country - from all countries. The US may have the worst developed internet of all developed countries, but there are other nations where things are even worse. Ever wonder how good the internet is, in some village in the mountainous part of Nigeria? You're likely to get the response, "What is internet?"

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 30 2019, @01:26PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 30 2019, @01:26PM (#861604)

              Cities aren't a losing proposition. I've got exactly two providers in my area (large metro area and state capitol) and they both suck. A few blocks from me is an area Google Fiber has planned to expand to, and quelle shock, service is head a shoulders better there from the same two providers; better speeds available, and for lower prices. I bet service in my area mysteriously improves as soon as this spins up, but I expect I'll be switching as soon as possible if Starlink gets barely decent reviews (since the current providers have horrible reviews).

          • (Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday June 30 2019, @04:25PM

            by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Sunday June 30 2019, @04:25PM (#861666) Journal

            Dense cities are not the target for Starlink, but suburban users could use it. Rather than the cities, look at the people living in 1-2 story homes 20 miles away from the cities. There are a lot of them.

            As for rural users, it could be a godsend. They'll apparently get the best experience with Starlink, which is a role reversal.

            Then you have most other countries on Earth, minus a few firewalled ones. A lot of potential customers. Even in poorer African countries, you could have subscribers around the place reselling the service to nearby phone users.

            --
            [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 2) by Username on Sunday June 30 2019, @09:55PM (2 children)

        by Username (4557) on Sunday June 30 2019, @09:55PM (#861730)

        They don't have sat-to-sat communications

        I bet they can with a firmware update. well, long as they have working radios. I think it's just their way of saying they have half the radios of the final sats.

        • (Score: 2) by dry on Monday July 01 2019, @12:09AM (1 child)

          by dry (223) on Monday July 01 2019, @12:09AM (#861763) Journal

          Supposed to be done with lasers, which these sats don't have.

          • (Score: 3, Funny) by Username on Monday July 01 2019, @11:49AM

            by Username (4557) on Monday July 01 2019, @11:49AM (#861878)

            It started with sharks, and now we're onto satellites with laser beams.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 29 2019, @09:12PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 29 2019, @09:12PM (#861427)

      57/60 is terrible! Only an incel would be proud of such a track record. They'll all be failed by next week at that rate!

      We should be giving more money to the Pentagon and ULA instead of letting dorks on a couch into space. Anybody who has plenty of sex with people who have regular menstruation can see that musky rockets are just penis size compensation. We need to be blowing our ICBM load all over Iran and Russia, not wasting this tech like incels!

      Biden 2020!

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 29 2019, @10:47PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 29 2019, @10:47PM (#861457)

    Anyone keeping track? Do we add Grimes to this list?

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 29 2019, @11:37PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 29 2019, @11:37PM (#861471)

      Better to have a grimy blowjob than get MeToo'd by Amber Heard.

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