SpaceX's new smaller broadband dish.

[c-spand]

Does anyone have this? And how well does it work? Article here. SpaceX's new, smaller Starlink satellite-internet dish is a rectangle - take a look at the new design

 

[navychop]

The new normal?

 

[John2021]

LOL it's wifi only now. if you want a hard wired conn i bet you have to pay extra now what a rip... Id'e keep a look out on youtubes to see how well it preforms in rain and winter conditions!!! i would never pay 100.00 for an under 200 mbps conn!!! i'm waiting to see if this thing will ever hit gig speeds like they say it will. Then it might be worth somthing!!!

 

[John2021]

The new normal?

Gotta give musk credit for improving peoples lives

 

[harshness]

Gotta give musk credit for improving peoples lives

If you never really come out of beta testing stage, how many lives have you improved?

Thus far a good chunk of what has been talked about in terms of satellites has already been de-orbited. The new generation of satellites is perhaps the fourth go-around.

There's also a "sky pollution" issue that few seem to have the chutzpah to raise and is going to get worse fast as other companies (Amazon, Boeing) seek to add their nets to the fray.

 

[NYDutch]

If you never really come out of beta testing stage, how many lives have you improved?

Thus far a good chunk of what has been talked about in terms of satellites has already been de-orbited. The new generation of satellites is perhaps the fourth go-around.

There's also a "sky pollution" issue that few seem to have the chutzpah to raise and is going to get worse fast as other companies (Amazon, Boeing) seek to add their nets to the fray.

Starlink dropped the beta program last month. Of the 1800+ satellites launched so far, the overall failure rate has been a bit less than 2.5%, or about typical for the satellite industry as a whole. The initial ~5% failure rate has rapidly dropped with each successive launch. The initial launches also included testing and sacrificial sats that were deliberately de-orbited for internal and NASA testing purposes. SpaceX has been working closely with amateur and professional astronomy organizations to minimize the impact of their satellites by reducing reflectivity and other measures.

 

[harshness]

Starlink dropped the beta program last month.

Yet the kits aren't much easier to get now than they were a year ago. They're dribbling out pretty slowly.

The initial launches also included testing and sacrificial sats that were deliberately de-orbited for internal and NASA testing purposes.

At least two entire generations have been de-orbited. The first was pretty much a test mule and there weren't many of them but the second was pretty much at scale.

SpaceX has been working closely with amateur and professional astronomy organizations to minimize the impact of their satellites by reducing reflectivity and other measures.

While paint can improve the visibility of the satellites so that they're less likely to be spotted by the naked eye, it doesn't uncover what they block.

 

[NYDutch]

Yet the kits aren't much easier to get now than they were a year ago. They're dribbling out pretty slowly.

At least two entire generations have been de-orbited. The first was pretty much a test mule and there weren't many of them but the second was pretty much at scale.

While paint can improve the visibility of the satellites so that they're less likely to be spotted by the naked eye, it doesn't uncover what they block.

Chip shortages are slowing production of the user terminals. It's hard to ramp up production for a worldwide market without the raw materials needed. Starlink currently has 900,000+ subscribers and could hit a million by the end of the year.

I don't know what you're considering a "generation", but the initial batch were just testing and proofing units, never intended for long term use. The latest launch was the new version sats with laser links and brings the current total in orbit to almost 1,700.

Other than the anti-reflective coatings, I've read that other measure are being taken, but I'm not privy to what those are. At ~17,000 miles an hour, the Starlink sats shouldn't be in view for very long. There's over 6,500 satellites of all kinds currently in orbit. How are the astronomers dealing with all the non-Starlink sats?

 

[harshness]

There's over 6,500 satellites of all kinds currently in orbit. How are the astronomers dealing with all the non-Starlink sats?

Quite a few of those satellites are in geostationary or otherwise very predictable orbits. We're talking about adding thousands more and having them racing hither and yon as well as altering their orbits as necessary to avoid collisions.

 

[NYDutch]

Quite a few of those satellites are in geostationary or otherwise very predictable orbits. We're talking about adding thousands more and having them racing hither and yon as well as altering their orbits as necessary to avoid collisions.

Every one of the Starlink sats operates in a very predictable orbit. There are even public web sites that track them. The only sats that are running "hither and yon" are the ones that have been deactivated or failed and lost communications and/or power that have been there for years. Heck, I saw a complaint not long ago from an astronomer that was upset because the ISS passed through his long exposure shot and ruined it. A few minutes research, and he would have known exactly when and where it would be overhead. If you think the LEO sats are going to be a huge problem, then maybe you should be talking to the folks at NASA, RFSA, ESA, CNSA, and the other space agencies, since apparently they're not that concerned...

 

[NYDutch]

Chip shortages are slowing production of the user terminals. It's hard to ramp up production for a worldwide market without the raw materials needed. Starlink currently has 900,000+ subscribers and could hit a million by the end of the year.

I don't know what you're considering a "generation", but the initial batch were just testing and proofing units, never intended for long term use. The latest launch was the new version sats with laser links and brings the current total in orbit to almost 1,700.

Other than the anti-reflective coatings, I've read that other measure are being taken, but I'm not privy to what those are. At ~17,000 miles an hour, the Starlink sats shouldn't be in view for very long. There's over 6,500 satellites of all kinds currently in orbit. How are the astronomers dealing with all the non-Starlink sats?

A couple of corrections to my post. The 900,000 figure above should have been 100,000+, and Starlink could hit a million by the end of 2022, not this year.

 

[harshness]

Every one of the Starlink sats operates in a very predictable orbit.

At least until they see an impending collision and change their orbit. The question is whether they change back or keep going in the new orbit.

The newest satellites are supposedly able to perform their own collision avoidance but that may require being part of the LASER net.

 

[NYDutch]

At least until they see an impending collision and change their orbit. The question is whether they change back or keep going in the new orbit.

The newest satellites are supposedly able to perform their own collision avoidance but that may require being part of the LASER net.

All active satellites are capable of maneuvering when needed. An anti-collision maneuver rarely requires a major orbital change. The Starlink sats receive anti-collision updates as needed from the ground stations, and the laser links will add more reliable communications in those areas where there are no ground stations, such as mid-ocean.