Enlarge / Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos at the 32nd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on April 12, 2016. (credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg) Amazon’s attempt to block proposals for the next-generation Starlink system is a “delay tactic” and a continuation of Amazon’s strategy of “hinder[ing] competitors to compensate for Amazon’s failure […]
Enlarge (credit: SpaceX ) Amazon is urging US regulators to reject an update to SpaceX’s plan for a second-generation Starlink system. Kuiper Systems, Amazon’s satellite-broadband subsidiary, says that SpaceX broke Federal Communications Commission rules by “propos[ing] two different configurations for the nearly 30, 000 satellites of its Gen2 System, each of which arranges these satellites […]
Enlarge (credit: SpaceX ) SpaceX says that Starlink user terminals with regard to moving vehicles will be ruggedized to withstand “harsh environments” with extreme levels of heat and cold. SpaceX has been seeking Federal Communications Commission permission to deploy terminals on moving vehicles since March and provided new details on its plan in an application […]
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | LdF) The Federal Communications Commission wants SpaceX to give up a portion of the $885.51 million in broadband funding it was awarded in a reverse auction in December 2020. SpaceX’s Starlink satellite broadband division was one of the biggest winners in the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) grants announced […]
Enlarge / Artist’s impression of low-Earth-orbit satellites like those launched by SpaceX and OneWeb. (credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / P. Marenfeld) A UK government agency is worried that OneWeb, SpaceX’s Starlink, and similar low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite-broadband systems could block each others’ signals. Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, proposed new rules today […]
Enlarge / 60 Starlink satellites stacked for launch at SpaceX facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (credit: SpaceX) SpaceX can keep launching broadband satellites despite a lawsuit filed by Viasat, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. Viasat sued the Federal Communications Commission in May and asked judges for a stay that would halt SpaceX’s ongoing launches of […]
Enlarge SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said his company’s Starlink division is trying to cut the price of its user terminal from $500 to as low as $250. Starlink has been charging $99 a month for Internet service during its beta phase, plus $500 up front for the user terminal/satellite dish, and it’s losing money on the […]
Enlarge / Starlink satellite dish and equipment in the Idaho panhandle’s Coeur d’Alene National Forest. (credit: Wandering-coder) A Starlink beta user in Arizona said he lost Internet service for over seven hours yesterday when the satellite dish overheated, demonstrating one of the drawbacks of SpaceX’s broadband service. When the user’s Internet service was disrupted, the Starlink […]
Enlarge / A SpaceX Starlink user terminal/satellite dish. (credit: SpaceX) SpaceX today was granted permission to use a lower orbit for Starlink satellites, as regulators agreed with SpaceX that the change will improve broadband speed and latency while making it easier to minimize orbital debris. In granting SpaceX’s request, the Federal Communications Commission dismissed opposition […]
Enlarge / A Starlink satellite dish in the Idaho panhandle’s Coeur d’Alene National Forest. (credit: Wandering-coder) SpaceX CEO Elon Musk expects the Starlink satellite broadband service to be “fully mobile” later in 2021, allowing customers to use the satellite dishes away from home. “Yeah, should be fully mobile later this year, so you can move […]