NASA and SpaceX sign agreement on spaceflight safety
SpaceX has agreed to maneuver any of its Starlink satellites that come close to the International Space Station or other NASA spacecraft in low Earth orbit.
spacenews.com
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spacenews.com
Almost looks tailored for SpaceX. Space Force finalizing plan to procure broadband from low-orbit satellites - SpaceNews
Even if they went for a different company, there's a whole load of other potential customers. Sailors and RV owners are waiting for Starlink to support mobile.
Xepa777
Banned
More Shotwell from today:
www.cnbc.com
SpaceX does not plan to add 'tiered pricing' for Starlink satellite internet service, president says
SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell does not think the company will add "tiered pricing" for its direct-to-consumer Starlink satellite internet service.
www.cnbc.com
e-FTW
New electron smell
Both OCISLY and JRTI have Starlink terminals. So, they work at sea It seems!
So about five or six more to go. Not bad for a year and a half. I wonder how long the system takes to reach profitability. A rough estimate on my part figures it cost a little over a billion to get them worldwide coverage. I figured an average of about $30 million a launch. My WAG for a single Starlink satellite is between $50K and $100K. Am I way off?
The mid to end of year has been the generic time table for everybody. I have just below the area where some beta testers. I am hoping that Starlink will be available sooner, recently Tesla has been beating time estimates
where I live there are very few options, either satellite or cellular based systems. I had ordered on of the cellular based and they sent me the wrong modem had a AT&T SIM card which didn’t work. Customer service is awful
But until recently you couldn’t actually ’sign up’, I have my $100 down now so it at least makes me hopeful it really is coming by the end of the year (fingers crossed).
Previously I had comcast (150mbps / $120 a month), moved 5 miles away and comcast is not available;
A newer housing development is 2 miles away where you can get AT&T fiber or comcast;
I am currently on a local ‘wireless’ setup (20mbps / $200 a month) and it is _good_ but not _great_ gets flaky in the evenings when more people are using it.
When I first moved here I was using phone hotspot (GoogleFi) which was ok for basic web surfing but not good enough for zoom calls or streaming.
StarLink is going to be a game changer...
Based on Shotwell's interview and statements about the terminal cost, I'd expect that to be a significant influence on rollout.
BrianBigNFun
Giver of snark
forgive me for being lazy and not reading the entire 79 page thread....
20 years ago I was a Direct TV user and got rid of it since whenever it rained the signal would go out
are Beta users experiencing the same sort of issues?
20 years ago I was a Direct TV user and got rid of it since whenever it rained the signal would go out
are Beta users experiencing the same sort of issues?
DMC-Orangeville
Audi eTron & John Deere 5100E
I'm in month 2 of my beta trial at 43.5 N latitude. Download speeds of 20-150 mbps, with average around 70...so speed has been good.
Every hour or 2 the system drops - sometimes for a few seconds, sometimes for a couple of minutes. This could be a hole in the satellite coverage, or a possible blockage (I may have a small sightline blockage in the lower North-east). It can wreak havoc on zoom calls, and streaming, but otherwise works.
The service does bog down a bit in the evening, as additional users hog more of the bandwidth. I got an email from Starlink saying exactly that. They also said new satellites (and ground links?) would be available soon.
It is a beta....and I'm happy they are progressing
Every hour or 2 the system drops - sometimes for a few seconds, sometimes for a couple of minutes. This could be a hole in the satellite coverage, or a possible blockage (I may have a small sightline blockage in the lower North-east). It can wreak havoc on zoom calls, and streaming, but otherwise works.
The service does bog down a bit in the evening, as additional users hog more of the bandwidth. I got an email from Starlink saying exactly that. They also said new satellites (and ground links?) would be available soon.
It is a beta....and I'm happy they are progressing
DMC-Orangeville
Audi eTron & John Deere 5100E
No.
Snow and rain have not affected my service. We had one day of fairly heavy wet snow in February - no issue at all. We haven't had a thunderstorm yet - That always affected my old satellite internet
Near as makes no difference, weather related GEO service issues are exclusively a function of improper dish installation.
Near as makes no difference, it is virtually impossible to improperly install a Starlink terminal.
Any intermittency in beta Starlink service is either a) gaps in coverage since the initial constellation is still being deployed or b) a result of beta-level issues being identified and resolved.
This is a great article with lots of news information about Starlink from Shotwell. Link and some quotes:
“We still have a lot of work to do to make the network reliable,” Shotwell said. “We still have drops, not necessarily just because of where the satellites are in the sky. So we’ll move off of beta when we have a really great product that we are very proud of.
“Most of the folks that have signed up on the beta program … either were completely disconnected and desperate and just loving the fact that they can do anything online, or they’re pretty tech savvy folks who are testing the network, giving us feedback,” she said. “So I think the beta phase is very helpful.”
“We still have a lot of work to do to make the network reliable,” Shotwell said. “We still have drops, not necessarily just because of where the satellites are in the sky. So we’ll move off of beta when we have a really great product that we are very proud of.
“Most of the folks that have signed up on the beta program … either were completely disconnected and desperate and just loving the fact that they can do anything online, or they’re pretty tech savvy folks who are testing the network, giving us feedback,” she said. “So I think the beta phase is very helpful.”
Not sure if this has been posted about new orders being allowed, but I was able to order Starlink today with my new address near Seattle. I try everyday and many times a day after launches, but it finally worked this morning!!! I realize that the wording implies it could be late 2022, but at least I've secured a place in line and that makes me happy!
DMC-Orangeville
Audi eTron & John Deere 5100E
@bxr140
...remember our conversation in November RE Starlink vs Telesat?
Well it looks like we may be able to continue our speculation. It appears Telesat is at the trough, looking to take on Starlink at half of the cost.
*cough, cough*
This will be an interesting 2 years watching it unfold
financialpost.com
...remember our conversation in November RE Starlink vs Telesat?
Well it looks like we may be able to continue our speculation. It appears Telesat is at the trough, looking to take on Starlink at half of the cost.
*cough, cough*
This will be an interesting 2 years watching it unfold
Telesat takes on Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in space race to provide fast broadband
Telesat racing to launch a low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellation to provide high-speed global broadband from space
financialpost.com
