Project Starlink: Internet for everyone

Starlink's official logo

SpaceX's satellite internet

Sattelite internet everywhere to everyone

Starlink is the name given by SpaceX which is owned by the famous Elon Musk to their satellite internet project which will provide internet access to the whole world. 

The goal of this project is to develop low in cost but high in performance satellites and implement them around the globe to create a space-born internet communication system; which will provide internet access to the whole planet.

Why we need satellite internet?

Good question, This is the year 2020 right? Imagine living without the internet for the rest of your life or say what if you don’t even use the internet for once and you just heard of it.

As a fact there are some countries in the world in 2020 that don’t even have internet access; not even really slow internet access. 

Why is that you might wonder! Because the current technology that we use to access the internet is based on access points. Let's take an example, Imagine; in the night there is a road where an array of street lights are turned on and you are walking by one by one and you can see the road clear because when one street light is low in light the next will light up the dark area. The same principle, there are access points; signal towers, and when you pass by your devices will get access from one tower to another and you will have internet access constantly. But what if you went to a place that doesn’t have any internet access, a load where there is no street light at night or some of the street lights are not working properly; will you walk further? 

Now look into this map of internet users around the world

Image Source: Information Geographies at the Oxford Internet Institute

  

As you can see, still in 2020 there are a majority of people around the world without internet access. 

Signal towers as in access points should be implemented around the world to give internet access to the whole world but there are some issues when implementing signal towers like rural areas that don't even have basic human needs; like water. And there are really rural areas that engineers or builders can't even get close to like the arctic area.

Soo, how SpaceX going to solve this problem?

SpaceX wasn't the first company that tried to give internet access to the whole world. Alphabet Inc. which is the parent company of Google came up with a plan to provide internet access to the rural areas with project loom by using high altitude balloons which are solar-powered and they will fly up to 20Km up in the Earth's atmosphere; use their built-in antennas to create a net network and contact with ground stations to provide internet. Which was a partial success but the internet access speed that they were promised was around 1Mbps which is not enough to be honest. 

Back in 2013, Mark Zuckerburg started a project called internet.org which will provide free internet to mobile users by partnering with local internet providers. Which is simply another network that Facebook has control over which is controversial with the given track record of theirs and not an actual solution to the domain of "Lack of internet access"

SpaceX's Starlink project is the latest attempt at solving global internet access problem and they are using the satellites. The idea is to put away a number of satellites to the atmosphere and create a network of them and fire away direct internet access to the whole globe; simple. Military use satellites to grab signals, calls and etc. in unreachable areas. The same military used tech concept for consumers

Image Source

Okay, how they gonna do it?

Back in 2016, SpaceX filed an application to FCC to operate a constellation of 4425 non-geostationary satellites which weigh around 260kg per satellite in orbit ranging from 1100km to 1300 km. Simply, SpaceX will fly up to 4425 satellites and create a network based on those satellites and provide internet access globally. 

However, after a certain regulatory filling, they proposed that they will deploy up to 12000 satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to provide global internet access. 

Later in 2018 SpaceX announced that they will deploy the first batch of 1600 satellites to a lower than initially stated altitude of 550km by the end of that year and they introduce a more simplified design that will help in the manufacturing process. 

According to CEO Elon Musk, they will be able to give "minor" internet coverage with 400 satellites and "moderate" coverage with 800 satellites.

How much will these satellite internets cost? Is it free? How fast it will be?

Again good questions, This decade long project of space x will cost around US$ 10 billion to design, build and deploy this proposed constellation of the satellite network and of course, this is not a charity project and SpaceX is not doing this as a free to use the project to monitor user traffic and monetize (looking at you Zuck) for now. 

According to Elon Musk's unofficial statement at the Starlink launch event, he stated that price would vary as much as $10 to $20 per month for the base plan and up to $100 - $150 with the preference of the user. These prices are for the United States. 

Also, users must bear the installation cost of the device that "looks like a thin, flat, round UFO on a stick" This stick is also fitted with “motors to self-adjust optimal angle to view the sky.” to be exact with Elon Musk. 

For now, we can sum up the pricing to be around $80 per month and around $100 - $300 for the installation.

Oh, the important fact; the speed of the internet. According to the statement of SpaceX; by the end of this project, they will provide internet speeds of up to a gigabit per second (1gbps) at latencies from 25 milliseconds to 35 milliseconds.

It's 2020 now, what is the status of the project Starlink?

As of today, 22nd August of 2020, SpaceX launched over 655 Starlink satellites with launces as often as every two weeks in 2020. With the current test result by Ookla the famous internet speed testing company, current speed varies from 11 Mbps to 60 Mbps, and the upload speeds have ranged from 5Mbps to 18Mbps.

They have planned the official global launch in 2021 and Canada will be the first in the world to enjoy it. 

in 2021 and Canada will be the first in the world to enjoy it. 

Visit Starlik's official website from here for more updates.