{"id":17997,"date":"2019-06-28T23:51:34","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T15:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-reports-milestone-for-starlink-satellite-links-and-sparks-a-debate\/"},"modified":"2019-06-28T23:51:34","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T15:51:34","slug":"spacex-reports-milestone-for-starlink-satellite-links-and-sparks-a-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-reports-milestone-for-starlink-satellite-links-and-sparks-a-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX reports milestone for Starlink satellite links \u2014 and sparks a debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_507802\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-507802\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-507802\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/190628-starlink-630x361.jpg\" alt=\"Starlink satellites\" width=\"630\" height=\"361\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/190628-starlink-630x361.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/190628-starlink-768x440.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/190628-starlink.jpg 864w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-507802\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist\u2019s conception shows the deployment of SpaceX\u2019s Starlink satellites. (SpaceX Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In the wake of last month\u2019s launch of 60 Starlink broadband data satellites, SpaceX says all but three of them are in communication with the company\u2019s network of ground stations, including the satellite operation\u2019s home base in Redmond, Wash.<\/p>\n<p>In an emailed update, SpaceX said Starlink is ready to go into a testing phase that involves streaming videos and playing video games via satellite.<\/p>\n<p>Forty-five of the satellites have used their onboard krypton ion thrusters to reach their intended 550-kilometer (342-mile) altitude. Five satellites are in the process of raising their altitude from the 440-kilometer-high (273-mile-high) orbits into which they were launched, and five more are undergoing checkouts in preparation for raising their orbits, SpaceX said.<\/p>\n<p>Two of the satellites are in communication but will be \u201cintentionally deorbited to simulate an end-of-life disposal,\u201d SpaceX said in today\u2019s update. The remaining three Starlink satellites were initially in contact but are no longer in service, SpaceX said. They\u2019ll eventually fall out of orbit and burn up in the atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow 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,\u201d SpaceX said.<\/p>\n<p>Those gateways include an installation in Redmond, where SpaceX\u2019s satellite development team is based. According to filings with the Federal Communications Commission, the other gateways are in Hawthorne, Calif., where SpaceX is headquartered; North Bend, Wash.; Conrad, Mont.; Merrillan, Wis.; and Greenville, Pa. There\u2019s also a telemetry and tracking station in Brewster, Wash.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Why SpaceX is Making Starlink\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/giQ8xEWjnBs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>SpaceX said \u201cStarlink is now the first NGSO [non-geosynchronous satellite orbit] system to operate in the Ku-band and communicate with U.S. ground stations, demonstrating the system\u2019s potential to provide fast, reliable internet to populations around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That statement isn\u2019t intended merely as a marketing boast: In documents filed earlier this month with the Federal Communications Commission, SpaceX says its \u201cfirst to operate\u201d status with the FCC means it can \u201cselect its frequencies first\u201d if there\u2019s a conflict with other satellite telecommunication networks in low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX\u2019s claim on that score has set off a flurry of regulatory filings from its rivals in the market for satellite broadband services, including the international OneWeb consortium and Canada\u2019s biggest satellite operator, Telesat.<\/p>\n<p>OneWeb, for example, launched the first six Ku-band satellites for its broadband satellite constellation back in February. Kepler Communications, a Canadian venture that\u2019s focusing on satellite services for the Internet of Things, has launched two Ku-band satellites so far \u2014 including one that went up on an Indian rocket last October.<\/p>\n<p>In one of this month\u2019s filings, OneWeb charged that SpaceX was being \u201cirresponsible\u201d by going ahead with a Ku-band system under conditions that would interfere with OneWeb\u2019s previously launched satellites. But SpaceX shrugged off OneWeb\u2019s objections, as well as Kepler\u2019s. It said neither OneWeb nor Kepler qualified for the FCC\u2019s first-choice status because their ground stations weren\u2019t in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>Telesat, meanwhile, told the FCC that SpaceX seemed to be misreading the rules about getting its first choice for operating frequencies. This week, a lawyer for SpaceX filed a reply, basically seeking to find out what Telesat meant. On Thursday, Telesat\u2019s lawyers basically said, \u201cStay tuned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The exchange of FCC filings illustrates how tangled the regulatory environment for satellite internet broadband services can get. And things could get even more tangled if additional players including Amazon and Boeing join the fray.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the full text of today\u2019s statement from SpaceX:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cJust a little over a month after a successful Falcon 9 launch, Starlink is now the first NGSO system to operate in the Ku-band and communicate with U.S. ground stations, demonstrating the system\u2019s potential to provide fast, reliable internet to populations around the world.<u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>\u201c57 Starlink satellites are communicating with SpaceX\u2019s Earth stations using their broadband phased array antennas. 45 Starlink satellites have reached their operational altitude using their onboard propulsion systems, five additional satellites continue their orbit raise, as five others are going through checkouts prior to completing their orbit raise. Two satellites are being intentionally deorbited to simulate an end of life disposal. Three satellites which initially communicated with the ground but are no longer in service, will passively deorbit. Due to their design and low orbital position, all five deorbiting satellites will disintegrate once they enter Earth\u2019s atmosphere in support of SpaceX\u2019s commitment to a clean space environment.<u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpaceX implemented slight variations across the 60 satellites in order to maximize operational capability across the fleet. While we are pleased with the performance of the satellites so far, SpaceX will continue to push the operational capabilities of the satellites to inform future iterations. And, now 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s conception shows the deployment of SpaceX\u2019s Starlink satellites. (SpaceX Illustration) In the wake of last month\u2019s launch of 60 Starlink broadband data satellites, SpaceX says all but three of them are in communication with the company\u2019s network of ground stations, including the satellite operation\u2019s home base in Redmond, Wash. In an emailed update, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[252,20,442,316,440],"class_list":["post-17997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-broadband","tag-satellite","tag-satellites","tag-spacex","tag-starlink"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17997"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}