They intend to cover the whole ocean between ~-57 and 57 N by the end of 2022: https://api.starlink.com/public-files/maritime-coverage-map.pdf

Per the posts I linked, the lasers are seemingly already working and covering some areas.

On Fri, Sep 30, 2022 at 10:24 AM Eugene Chang via Starlink <starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote:
Ow… the implications on no satellite to satellite routing is all traffic is one-hop. That puts limits on big patches of the Pacific Basin. (And not a solution for trans-pacific aircraft.)

Any clues how far apart are the ground stations? That is a lot of ground stations. This makes me reconsider (terrestrial) fixed-wireless as an alternative.

Gene
-----------------------------------
Eugene Chang
+1-781-799-0233 (in Honolulu)





On Sep 30, 2022, at 2:38 AM, Michael Richardson via Starlink <starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote:

Signed PGP part

Eugene Y Chang via Starlink <starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote:
Hmmmm….. is ground station positioning more about geographic topology
or managing subscriber density? I suspect it is easier to manage
subscriber density (and aggregate traffic) by building higher capacity
ground stations than by distributing ground stations.

Until they have satellite to satellite routing, the ground stations have to
be "near" the users that they serve.

My understanding from this list is that's why they couldn't easily help Tongo: it
was all just ocean "nearby" (and why they can help Ukraine)





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