Elon Musk has had a spectacular few days. A successful launch on June 17th, when a SpaceX rocket placed 53 Starlink satellites into orbit, was followed the next day with the launch of the SARah-1 German military mission from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, and where the booster rocket returned to land. A […]
Technically, Elon Musk’s Starlink is working well. Musk’s generous supply of free Starlink terminals to fighters and military logistical technicians in Ukraine is both praiseworthy and a clear example as to how emergency supply of equipment can be managed. But making Starlink work for a global audience is a different – and major – problem, […]
Elon Musk says that he is unlikely to take his Starlink broadband-by-satellite system into public ownership for another three to four years. Musk emphasised, as he has previously, that the Starlink business needs to be “in a smooth sailing situation” with “good predictability” before it goes public. “I’m not sure exactly when that [IPO] is, […]
The Starlink broadband network has regained permission to operate in France following a public consultation in the country, with telecoms regulator Arcep granting a 10-year licence to operate. There have been a number of highly-vociferous objectors to the Elon Musk-owned service being allowed to operate in France. Arcep had previously approved in February 2021 Starlink’s […]
Elon Musk has confirmed that SpaceX has built the first Starlink 2.0 satellite, which will be much larger and more powerful than the original versions. However, Musk’s Starship mega-rocket is the only way SpaceX will be able to get volume production of Starlink 2.0 into their orbits. The new satellite design is 22 feet (7 […]
Cars – at least in some markets – are already extremely well connected, whether from pay-radio services such as SiriusXM or cellular telephony which hooks up via Bluetooth to the vehicle’s audio system or delivering map-based information. Northern Sky Research (NSR), in a comprehensive study, recognises the huge improvements made in vehicles which have become […]
SpaceX has told the FCC that its Starlink broadband satellite system has more than 400,000 subscribers around the world. This is a significant increase on its position at the end of March when the subscriber number was around 250,000 and at the start of the year its – then mostly Beta users – totalled about […]
SpaceX’s Starlink broadband system has used Germany’s BNetZA (Bundesnetzagentur), the country’s Federal regulatory office for telecommunications, for a number of new satellite filings. The filings were made on behalf of Starlink’s German subsidiary. The German regulatory office will handle the applications with the International Telecommunications Union. The filings cover a total of 6,184 satellites working […]
It was a busy weekend for Elon Musk’s SpaceX team. On May 13th, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 3:07pm Pacific time to add another 53 Starlink satellites to SpaceX’s low Earth orbit communications constellation, bringing the total launched to more than 2,500. The successful launch took place from […]
Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite service is now offering limited portability to its customers. For an extra $25 per month, users can add on portability, enabling them to temporarily move their Starlink to new locations and receive high-speed internet anywhere where the service provides active coverage within the same continent. Starlink warns: “If you use Starlink […]