[Starlink] FCC Denies Starlink Low-Orbit Bid for Lower Latency (Mark Harris)

[the keyboard of geoff goodfellow]

*Agency says SpaceX craft could hinder International Space Station*
EXCERPT:

The FCC has once again rejected a Starlink plan to deploy thousands of
internet satellites in very low earth orbits (VLEO) ranging from 340 to 360
kilometers. In an order published last week, the FCC wrote: “SpaceX may not
deploy any satellites designed for operational altitudes below the
International Space Station,” whose orbit can range as low as 370
kilometers.

Starlink currently has nearly 6000 satellites orbiting at around 550
kilometers that provide internet access to over 2.5 million customers
around the world. But its service is currently slower than most terrestrial
fiber networks, with average latencies (the time for data to travel between
origin and destination) over 30 milliseconds at best, and double that at
peak times.

*“If you fill that region with tens of thousands of satellites, it would
put an even bigger squeeze on them and really compromise your ability to
service the space station.”*

—HUGH LEWIS, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON, U.K.


“The biggest single goal for Starlink from a technical standpoint is to get
the mean latency below 20 milliseconds,” said Elon Musk at a SpaceX event
in January. “For the quality of internet experience, this is actually a
really big deal. If you play video games like I sometimes do, this is also
important, otherwise you lose.”

The easiest way to reduce latency is to simply shorten the distance the
data have to travel. So in a February letter, SpaceX pleaded with the FCC
to allow its VLEO constellation: “Operating at these lower altitudes will
enable SpaceX to provide higher-quality, lower-latency satellite service
for consumers, keeping pace with growing demand for real-time
applications.” These now include the military use of Starlink for
communications in warzones such as Ukraine.

Starlink also argued that its VLEO satellites would have collision
probabilities ten times lower than those in higher orbits, and be easier to
deorbit at the end of their functional lives.

But the FCC was having none of it. The agency had already deferred VLEO
operations when it licensed Starlink operations in December 2022, and used
very similar languages in its order last week: “SpaceX must communicate and
collaborate with NASA to ensure that deployment and operation of its
satellites does not unduly constrain deployment and operation of NASA
assets and missions, supports safety of both SpaceX and NASA assets and
missions, and preserves long-term sustainable space-based communications
services.”

Neither the FCC nor SpaceX replied to requests for comment, but the
agency’s reasoning is probably quite simple, according to Hugh Lewis,
professor of astronautics at the University of Southampton in the U.K. “We
don’t understand enough about what the risks actually are, especially
because the number of satellites that SpaceX is proposing is greater than
the number they’ve already launched,” he says...

[...]
https://spectrum.ieee.org/starlink-vleo-below-iss

-- 
Geoff.Goodfellow at iconia.com
living as The Truth is True
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