Starlink: Elon Musk's Next-Generation Satellite Internet

How Starlink internet works: A connection from anywhere

Connecting to the internet from anywhere in the world is a near-future concept that may soon become an everyday reality. Perhaps even sooner than some might think. In 2015, technology billionaire Elon Musk's company SpaceX announced the development of a new internet service called Starlink. What is Starlink? In short, it is a highly ambitious space-based internet service.

Musk announced that Google Inc. and Fidelity Investments had already invested $1 billion into the project, giving them nearly a 10 percent stake [1]. The satellite network aims to offer reliable internet access from anywhere on the globe. To achieve this, it requires launching thousands of small satellites into Earth's orbit, creating a network capable of ensuring a consistent and fast internet signal.

A single Starlink satellite weighs about 500 lbs (227 kg) [2]. The core of the satellite consists of four powerful internet transmission antennas and integrated lasers that link the satellites into a unified network. It is also worth noting that the satellites are equipped with ion thrusters powered by krypton gas. This allows them to remain in orbit significantly longer, even at a relatively short distance from Earth.

Starlink satellite internet: An innovation with huge prospects

SpaceX's Starlink satellites will orbit in low Earth orbit at an altitude of approximately 350 miles (563 km). Due to this relatively short distance, SpaceX claims the internet data latency will range from 25 ms to 35 ms. This is a sufficient speed to handle most online tasks, including competitive gaming. The download speed is stated to be quite high, reaching around 1 Gbps, though initially, SpaceX did not confirm what the upload speeds of this technology would be.

For comparison, HughesNet has traditionally been a primary satellite internet service, offering download speeds up to 25 Mbps. The problem is that this connection's data latency can reach up to 600 ms. In other words, this quality is unsatisfactory for many modern online tasks. Fans of Starlink's innovative technology quickly began discussing the capabilities of this space-based internet on major online forums like Reddit.

Early Starlink speed tests shared online [3] demonstrated download speeds between 37 Mbps and 60 Mbps, with upload speeds ranging from 4.5 Mbps to 17.7 Mbps. While these figures were not officially confirmed by SpaceX at the time, a CNN article [4] published emails reporting Starlink internet connection tests with speeds of 50–150 Mbps and data latency of 20–40 ms.

The emails also mentioned that Starlink expected to significantly improve these results in the following months. Overall, the discussions on Reddit and the official statements from the Starlink company [5] align closely. Standard fiber-optic internet connections in many developed regions already offer excellent quality, making it interesting to compare them with Starlink's promises. A simple speed test on a standard home Wi-Fi network connected to fiber can easily yield download speeds of 40 Mbps, upload speeds of 25 Mbps, and a latency of just 2 ms.

Of course, technology is advancing rapidly, but based on these early numbers, Elon Musk's Starlink still has room to grow to match the latency and stability of traditional ground-based fiber optics. It remains to be seen how quickly Starlink's innovations will improve and how rapidly this internet connection will integrate into our daily lives.

Starlink service expansion and satellite launches

The first test satellites were launched back in 2018, followed by the first official batch of 60 Starlink satellites in 2019. By early 2021, it was estimated that SpaceX had launched around 1,000 satellites into orbit [6]. One of the notable early launches took place at the end of January 2021. Many skywatchers around the world have witnessed these deployments, with some barely managing to capture them on their mobile phones.

During a single launch, about 60 satellites are typically sent into orbit [7], meaning fans of Elon Musk's ventures have already been able to observe numerous unique spectacles in the night sky. This is far from the end, but rather just the beginning of the saga, as SpaceX received permission from the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to launch up to 12,000 Starlink satellites [8]. Furthermore, their ambitions are only growing.

Musk shows no signs of scaling back his ambitions and has stated a desire to increase the total number of satellites to 42,000 [9]. Essentially, these satellites will be visible to the human eye, forming a unique "Starlink constellation" in the sky. However, in its early stages, the pricing for this satellite internet was primarily geared toward consumers with higher disposable incomes.

CNN published additional Starlink company emails [10] inviting people to test the internet service. The one-time cost for the ground equipment was set at $499, with the internet service itself costing $99 per month. For comparison, traditional alternatives like HughesNet can cost around $150 per month, but their high data latency makes it impossible to comfortably play online games and complicates daily remote work.

In April 2020, Musk posted on Twitter [11] that a private beta version of the internet connection would launch within three months. He added that a public beta would begin about six months later, roughly around the end of October of that year. According to CNN, people who expressed interest received emails asking them to register for a trial aptly named the "Better Than Nothing Beta."

SpaceX stated to the Federal Communications Commission [12] that it had roughly 10,000 registered customers during its early rollout. The service officially began expanding its reach in 2021. The company clarified that the initial rollout started in Canada [13], followed by the northern part of the US, with further expansion into other countries globally continuing from 2022 onward.