The episode of Real Engineering discusses SpaceX's ambitious project, Starlink, aimed at providing high-quality broadband internet across the globe. On May 24th, SpaceX launched 60 satellites into space, marking the beginning of their project. The company plans to launch a total of 12,000 satellites over the next decade. Each satellite is equipped with five lasers, which transmit data using light pulses, offering the potential for lower latency communication compared to traditional methods.
The launch of these satellites is a significant step towards SpaceX's goal of providing internet access to every human on Earth. The company projects that the Starlink project will generate between $30 billion and $50 billion in revenue annually, which will support research and development for future projects. The episode concludes with a promotion for Brilliant, a problem-solving website that provides interactive math and science learning experiences.
1. The episode is brought to you by Brilliant, a problem-solving website that teaches you to think like an engineer.
2. On the 24th of May, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket filled with 60 satellites into space.
3. This marked the beginning of their ambitious new project called “Starlink” which aims to provide high-quality broadband internet to the most isolated parts of the planet, while also providing low latency connectivity to already well-connected cities.
4. SpaceX aims to make their broadband as accessible as possible, claiming that anyone will be able to connect to their network if they buy the pizza box-sized antenna which SpaceX is developing themselves.
5. The launch of 60 satellites was just the first of many. SpaceX has 12,000 satellites planned for launch over the next decade, dramatically increasing the total amount of spacecraft around Earth’s orbit.
6. This will cost SpaceX billions of dollars.
7. SpaceX has a significant unmet demand for low-cost global broadband capabilities.
8. SpaceX opened a new facility in Redmond, Washington to develop and manufacture these new communication satellites.
9. The initial plan was to launch two prototype satellites into orbit by 2016 and have the initial satellite constellation up and running by 2020.
10. The company struggled to develop a receiver that could be easily installed by the user for a low cost, this delayed the program and the initial prototype satellites weren’t launched until 2018.
11. After a successful launch of the two prototypes, Tintin-A and B, SpaceX kept pretty quiet about what was next for the Starlink project, until November 2018 when SpaceX received the approval from the FCC to deploy 7,500 satellites into orbit, on top of the 4,400 that were already approved.
12. On May 24th, the first batch of production satellites were launched into orbit and people around the world quickly started to spot the train of satellites moving across the night sky.
13. The satellites will contain 5 individual lasers which will use light pulses to transmit information between satellites.
14. The speed of light is not constant in every material, in fact, light travels 47% slower in glass than in a vacuum.
15. Starlink provides the potential of lower latency information over long distance.
16. SpaceX's first phase of 1584 satellites will occupy 24 orbital planes, with 66 satellites in each plane inclined at 53 degrees.
17. Communication between neighbouring satellites in the same orbital plane is relatively simple, as these satellites will remain in relatively stable positions in relation to each other.
18. This requires precise tracking, as the satellites travelling in neighbouring orbital planes are travelling incredibly quickly and will come in and out of view.
19. Starlink may be faster, but it won’t be instantaneous, and thus it has 5 optical communication systems on board to maintain a steady connection to 4 satellites at all times.
20. The actual current return trip time for your average Joe is about 76 milliseconds.
21. A 77% decrease in speed.
22. The improvements would be even more pronounced for a London to Singapore transmission, for every additional kilometre we travel the potential gains in speed increase rapidly.
23. SpaceX primarily advertises this system as a way to connect every human on this planet to the internet, and they should have plenty of bandwidth left over to serve these people.
24. By the end of 2019 more than half of the world's population will still be offline (4 billion).
25. Users will connect to this internet using a Starlink terminal which will cost around $200 each.
26. Elon Musk says that these will be flat enough to fit onto the roof of a car and other vehicles like ships and airplanes.
27. It’s estimated that moving the US from a 4G to a 5G wireless connection will cost around $150 billion in fiber optic cabling alone over the next 7 years, SpaceX plan to complete their entire Stralink project for as little as $10 billion.
28. Each Starlink satellite cost around