SpaceX Starlink: The New Constellation
One of the main concepts of network neutrality, or more commonly known as net neutrality, is that it should not discriminate or charge differently based on the address destination, and, frankly speaking, this might be the best solution possible: SpaceX Starlink
Under the guidance of the futurist Elon Musk, SpaceX had started with its new project called Starlink. This project aims to launch almost 1440 satellites by the end of 2021 or early 2022 to form a near-earth constellation, aiming to provide high -speed internet to almost every part of the world.
With performance that far surpasses that of traditional satellite internet, and a global network unbounded by ground infrastructure limitations, Starlink will deliver high-speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable. Starlink is targeting service in the Northern U.S. and Canada in 2020, rapidly expanding to near-global coverage of the populated world by 2021.
These satellites have been launched using SpaceX’s own orbital class rocket capable of re-flight, called the Falcon 9. The Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond. Falcon 9 is the world’s first orbital class reusable rocket. Reusability allows SpaceX to re-fly the most expensive parts of the rocket, which in turn drives down the cost of space access.
The main problem pertaining to this is space traffic, and might also can be a potential threat to humans too; space debris. But, Starlink already has that covered. Starlink boasts that it is on the leading edge of on-orbit debris mitigation, meeting or exceeding all regulatory and industry standards.
At end of life, the satellites will utilize their onboard propulsion system to deorbit over the course of a few months. In the unlikely event the propulsion system becomes inoperable, the satellites will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere within 1–5 years, significantly less than the hundreds or thousands of years required at higher altitudes.
The former problem of space traffic has been solved in a clever way by SpaceX using an autonomous collision avoidance system. Starlink satellites utilize inputs from the Department of Defense’s debris tracking system to autonomously perform manoeuvres to avoid collisions with space debris and other spacecraft. This capability reduces human error, allowing for a more reliable approach to collision avoidance. this uses deep learning techniques to detect debris from a distance safe enough to manoeuvre. It also has a “Star tracker” navigation system that would allow the satellites to locate themselves and orbital debris with precision.
They also succeeded in making the satellite as compact as possible, each satellite weighs approximately 260kg and features a compact, flat-panel design that minimizes volume, allowing for a dense launch stack to take full advantage of the launch capabilities of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. With 4 powerful phased array antennas on each satellite, an enormous amount of throughput can be placed and redirected in a short time, for an order of magnitude lower cost. Starlink satellites feature a single solar array, significantly simplifying the system; solar cells are standardized, and easy to integrate into the manufacturing process.
How do they propel across space?
Starlink satellites are equipped with efficient ion thrusters powered by krypton that enable the satellites to orbit raise, manoeuvre in space, and deorbit at the end of their useful life. Starlink is the first krypton propelled spacecraft ever flown. normally satellites use xenon propulsion system, but the advantages of krypton are quite striking. The lighter krypton would have a higher Isp at a given acceleration voltage, It would, hence have a slightly lower ionization potential and so would be easier to ionize.
DC power for electromagnets for confinement and RF power supply for plasma excitation can dominate the weight of an ion propulsion engine (depending on the specific design and principle), so in for these svelte and featherweight spacecraft, it would be a better option to incorporate krypton propulsion system.
Now to the non-technical side, these are some key points:
· SpaceX is expanding the beta test of its Starlink satellite internet service, sending emails on Monday to people who expressed interest in signing up for the service.
· Called the “Better Than Nothing Beta” test, according to multiple screenshots of the email seen by CNBC, initial Starlink service is priced at $99 a month — plus a $499 upfront cost to order the Starlink Kit.
· That kit includes a user terminal to connect to the satellites, a mounting tripod and a Wi-Fi router
The beta testing has been quite successful as of now as many of the regions that have freezing temperatures, high winds and deep snow have confirmed that they are able to avail internet speed upto 175–200 Mbps, which is 20 Mbps faster than the usual speed.
And for the gamers out there, SpaceX's Starlink internet shows fast speeds during early tests, capable of gaming and streaming. SpaceX confirmed during the webcast of its latest launch on Monday that employees have been testing Starlink’s latency and download speeds, key measures for an internet service provider.
They show super-low latency and download speeds greater than 100 [megabits] per second. That means the latency is low enough to play the fastest online video games and the download speeds are fast enough to stream multiple HD movies at once.
SpaceX is manufacturing 120 Starlink internet satellites per month
SpaceX is manufacturing its Starlink satellites at an unprecedented rate for the space industry, analysts say, as the company dives headlong into building a space-based global internet service.
Elon Musk’s company told the Federal Communications Commission in a presentation last month that its Starlink unit is “now building 120 satellites per month” and has “invested over $70 million developing and producing thousands of consumer user terminals per month.” “Invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Starlink to date,” the SpaceX presentation added.This surely means that the company is investing heavily due to the humongous potential it can tap out of this.
As every coin has 2 sides, there is a darker side to this, which is that it might hinder the night star-gazing vision due to the presence of a large number of satellites (planning to launch almost 12,000 satellites, which is a lot).
As of now, the progress is quite satisfying:
- Built a U.S world-leading manufacturing system, now building 120 satellites constellation in the world by far.
- Developed gateway ground stations throughout the united states
- Invested over $70 million developing and producing thousands of consumer user terminals per month using 12GHz, with high-rate production soon to come.
- Fully licensed by the FCC for 1 million consumer user terminals in the U.S. that use 12GHz.
- Begun beta service for hundreds of users in multiple states, including tribal communities.
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Predicting Reopening Dates Using Machine Learning | by Aromal A S | PaperKin | Dec, 2020 | Medium
