“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...