FCC recently approved SpaceX’s request of revised plan of satellite deployment. SpaceX had permission to launch 4,425 satellites into orbits that ranged between 1,110 to 1,325 kilometers last November from FCC. Now SpaceX’s plans to fly internet-beaming satellites in a lower orbit: 550 km.
“Starlink production is well underway, and the first group of satellites have already arrived at the launch site for processing,” said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer.
When operating satellites at 550 km, the user connecting to the internet through Starlink will have much lower latency: about 15 milliseconds. That is almost as fast as what we have right now from the broadband providers. (Latency from an altitude of 1,150 km would be 25 milliseconds to 30 milliseconds.) However, reducing the height from 1,150 km to 550 km, the satellites will face much stronger earth gravity. The atmospheric drag will force the satellites work harder to remain in orbit.
SpaceX still thinks lower orbit satellites are better. It would be almost unnoticeable to the users when the latency of its communications signals is as low as 15 milliseconds. If a spacecraft failed in orbit, it will only take less than 5 years for the satellite to re-enter and demise in the atmosphere. Satellites which orbit at 1,150 km will need hundreds of years to enter the Earth’s atmosphere.
SpaceX also proposed to add more satellites operating at altitudes from 335 km to 346 km. It’s called very-low-Earth-orbit (VLEO) satellites. The company plans to launch a total of nearly 12,000 satellites to provide internet service covering the whole planet.
Next month, SpaceX will launch the first groups of satellites to the sky in Florida. I am really excited about this. In the near future, we all will have another option to connect to the internet.
