SpaceX is seeking approval for alters to Starconnect that the company says will allow gigabit-per-second wideprohibitd service. In an application createted to the US Federal Communications Comleave oution on October 11, SpaceX claims the seeked “modification and its companion amfinishment will allow the Gen2 system to hand over gigabit-speed, truly low-procrastinateedncy wideprohibitd and ubiquitous mobile connectivity to all Americans and the billions of people globassociate who still conciseage access to enough wideprohibitd.”
SpaceX shelp it is seeking “disconnectal petite-but-unkindingful modernizes to the orbital configuration and operational parameters for its Gen2 space station authorization to raise space sustainability, better reply to evolving need, and more effectively dispense spectrum with other spectrum employrs.”
SpaceX wants to shrink the altitudes of saincreateites “at 525 km, 530 km, and 535 km to 480 km, 485 km, and 475 km altitude, admireively.” The reconfiguration will incrrelieve the “potential peak number of orbital schedulees and saincreateites per schedulee” while defending the intentional total number of second-generation saincreateites at 29,988 or less. The FCC has so far apshowd 7,500 Gen2 saincreateites.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote Monday that “next generation Starconnect saincreateites, which are so huge that only Starship can begin them, will permit for a 10X incrrelieve in prohibitdwidth and, with the shrinkd altitude, speedyer procrastinateedncy.”
SpaceX promised gigabit speeds in 2016, when the saincreateite system was equitable in the schedulening stages and didn’t even have a name yet. “Once filledy enhanced thraw the Final Deployment, the system will be able to provide high prohibitdwidth (up to 1 Gbps per employr), low-procrastinateedncy wideprohibitd services for users and businesses in the US and globassociate,” SpaceX tbetter the FCC in November 2016.
As for actual speeds in 2024, Starconnect’s website says “employrs typicassociate experience download speeds between 25 and 220 Mbps, with a meaningfulity of employrs experiencing speeds over 100 Mbps. Upload speeds are typicassociate between 5 and 20 Mbps. Latency ranges between 25 and 60 ms on land, and 100+ ms in certain distant locations.”
Changing Saincreateite Elevation Angles
Another seek would alter the elevation angles of saincreateites to raise netlabor carry outance, SpaceX shelp. “SpaceX seeks to shrink its smallest elevation angle from 25 degrees to 20 degrees for saincreateites operating between 400 and 500 kilometers altitude,” SpaceX tbetter the FCC. “Reducing the smallest elevation angle in this way will raise customer connectivity by permiting saincreateites to connect to more earth stations straightforwardly and to conserve connections with earth stations for a extfinisheder period of time while flying overhead.”
Meanwhile, enhances to Starconnect’s Gen2 saincreateites “will feature raised challengingware that can employ higher obtain and more carry ond beamcreateing and digital processing technologies and provide more aimed and sturdy coverage for American users,” SpaceX shelp.
SpaceX is also seeking more alterable employ of spectrum licenses to aid its intentional mobile service and the current home internet service. The company asked for perleave oution “to employ Ka-, V-, and E-prohibitd frequencies for either mobile- or repaired-saincreateite employ cases where the US or International Table of Frequency Allocations permits such dual employ and where the antenna parameters would be indifferentiateable.”
