Re: [Starlink] Starlink Rival Astranis Debuts Next-Gen Satelite with 5X More Capacity – Zimbabwe Leading Tech Magazine

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

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I find these discussions a little problematic, for a variety of reasons.

For one, there is no uniform notion of "speed" or "capacity" here. 
Before you compare anything, it's important to clarify whether you mean:

1) A satellite's capacity to downlink to a single user.
2) A satellite's capacity to downlink to a single cell.
3) A satellite's capacity to do 2) above in the presence of users in 
other cells
4) The capacity of a constellation to downlink to a single user or cell.
5) The capacity of a satellite or a constellation to downlink to a set 
of cells (however you'll define that)
6) The capacity of a satellite to handle uplink or through traffic (with 
ISLs, from users, from gateways)
7) The capacity of a satellite to handle downlink traffic from users to 
(a) gateway(s)
8) Dishy's capacity to actually receive from a satellite or a 
constellation. E.g., Starlink is licenced to use a number of Ka-band 
beams for user downlink but in its various FCC applications for end user 
terminals, SpaceX makes no mention of Ka-band use, so presumably (at 
least in the US) isn't licensed to use Ka-band here.

Once you've clarified that, you'll discover quickly that the answers you 
are looking for depend on other factors, too, such as constellation 
design, where the users on the ground are, and where and how you connect 
your constellation to the Internet.

On 18/05/2024 12:42 pm, David Lang via Starlink wrote:
> On Fri, 17 May 2024, Hesham ElBakoury via Starlink wrote:
>
> > The new Omega satellite promises to offer more internet capacity at 
> a low
> > cost with a new satellite designed to beam over 50Gbps of internet 
> capacity
> > to the Earth.
> >
> > 
> https://technomag.co.zw/starlink-rival-astranis-debuts-next-gen-satelite-with-5x-more-capacity/ 
> <https://technomag.co.zw/starlink-rival-astranis-debuts-next-gen-satelite-with-5x-more-capacity>
>
> do they realize that the starlink v2-mini satellites are at 50-100Gbps
> currently? yes the individual user is only getting ~200Mb, because 
> they have
> enough customers to need to share the available bandwidth (and if you 
> want to
> pay enough, you can get a lot more)
>
> not to mention the increased latency from the signal having to travel 
> 60x as far
> (or the problem that there are far fewer satellites that can be 
> deployed at
> geostationary orbit than at the starlink altitudes)
>
> the article authors read a press release and don't know what they are 
> talking
> about :-(
>
> David Lang
>
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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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