SpaceX is working to connect rural and remote regions around the world to Starlink satellite internet. The company already provides limited beta service to select regions in 12 countries including the United States, Canada, Germany, Belgium, France, Austria, Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand, Ireland and United Kingdom.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in June that the Starlink team targets to provide global broadband coverage by September this year. “We've successfully deployed 1,800 or so satellites and once all those satellites reach their operational orbit, we will have continuous global coverage, so that should be like September timeframe,” she said. Each Starlink satellite is equipped with a single solar array and krypton-powered ion thrusters that are utilized to rise into its operational orbit. Once all clusters of satellites reach their designated orbit they can start beaming signal to the user terminals on Earth. –“But then we have regulatory work to go into every country and get approved to provide telecoms [telecommunication] services,” Shotwell added.
SpaceX plans to set up a Starlink Gateway ground station at the Isle of Man to provide ‘blanket coverage’ to Britain soon, according to a filing the company submitted to Great Britain’s telecommunication regulators – first reported by The Telegraph. The Isle of Man is a rural island located in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland. SpaceX already secured a telecommunications license to beam its signal and authorization to install the terrestrial station antennas that connect to data centers. Ground stations serve as a backbone for the satellite internet infrastructure. The satellites in orbit communicate with the Earth stations. The company already operates Starlink ground stations in Buckinghamshire and Cornwall. Setting up a third ground station in the Isle of Man would enable the company to beam ‘blanket coverage’ across the United Kingdom, they said. Currently, U.K. has a limited amount of Starlink beta users, as more satellites are launched the constellation will be capable of serving more customers who pre-ordered via Starlink.com. This news comes as SpaceX prepares to launch its next Starlink satellite fleet to orbit this month by August 10 [date is subject to change].
Featured Image Source: darkpenguin22 via Reddit.
About the Author
Evelyn Arevalo
Evelyn J. Arevalo joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover news as a Space Journalist and SpaceX Starbase Texas Correspondent. Evelyn is specialized in rocketry and space exploration. The main topics she covers are SpaceX and NASA.
