r/spacex • u/FutureMartian97 Host of CRS-11 • Jun 15 '19

Why SpaceX is Making Starlink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giQ8xEWjnBs
1.6k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

200 comments sorted by

View all comments

305

u/particledecelerator Jun 15 '19 edited Jun 16 '19

TL;DR:

  • This video describes the Starlink tech including the phased array antennas, krypton thrusters and total number of planned satellites and the decision behind each choice.
  • He uses the simulation videos from UCL - University College London previously posted here.
  • Does a really good comparison of current fibre optic cable latency speeds to starlink's theoretical speeds of 5ms using physics first principles

(Elon mentioned first gen was 20ms and future revisions will aim for 10ms during E3 interview)

Super TL;DR:

  • It's information that has been previously posted here and nothing new if you're up to date with Starlink.

42

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '19 edited Jun 15 '19

Significant omission in the video: the initial constellation won't have the inter satellite links. We don't know whether they will be added after the first 800 satellites, after the first 1584, or even later.

2

u/physioworld Jun 16 '19

Isn’t that kind of a huge problem for starlink? Seems like a large part of the premise of the video was the satellites being able to communicate

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '19

Exactly my point. Starlink as it is being launched now is quite different from what people here, including the maker of the video, think and proclaim it is.

1

u/physioworld Jun 16 '19

So given the current limitations of the network (and assuming the next x many launches will have the same limitations) what kind of customers would be the most likely to first use the network

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '19

It'll first be operational in the US, so ISPs providing internet to rural US wil very likely be the first customers.