[Starlink] Re: Starlink and Iran

[Ulrich Speidel <u.speidel@auckland.ac.nz>]

On 16/01/2026 9:30 am, Hayden Simon wrote:
> That leaves the most likely alternative as the action occuring from reasonable altitude. Be that in orbit, weather balloon(s)....drones.
>
Not really. Think of a Starlink satellite's beam as a laser pointer 
pointing at Dishys on the ground that look at the satellite with a good 
old fashioned telescope (which is what the phased array effectively 
does). And vice versa (laser pointer at the Dishy, telescope at the 
satellite). To disrupt that signal, you have to get yourself in front of 
the telescope with your laser pointer so your interfering signal can 
even be seen. Getting in front of the telescopes on the ground is 
mission impossible because there are a few 10000 of them. Moreover, they 
suddenly switch direction to point at another satellite typically every 
15 to 75 s (which shorter intervals dominating).

Getting in front of the telescopes on the satellites is somewhat easier 
as there are fewer of them and - with a drone - you'd be further away 
and they'd already be pointing in your general direction if you're close 
to the Dishy you're trying to interfere with. But even so, you'd need 
one laser pointer per visible and usable satellite - in each cell you're 
wanting to take Starlink out on. Moreover, you wouldn't know whether the 
satellite is currently receiving from that cell on a red, blue, or green 
light frequency - so you'd have to pump power into all of them. Not trivial.

GPS interference is much easier.

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Dr. Ulrich Speidel

School of Computer Science

Room 303S.594 (City Campus)

The University of Auckland
u.speidel@auckland.ac.nz
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~ulrich/
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