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Starlink isn't supposed to be geostationary, to my knowledge. According to the Wikipedia page, they requested the height be ~550km as of April 17th of this yea
by kbenson 6y ago
Starlink isn't supposed to be geostationary, to my knowledge.
According to the Wikipedia page, they requested the height be ~550km as of April 17th of this year.[1]
On 17 April 2020, in documentation to the FCC, SpaceX said lower altitude will put the satellites closer to Starlink consumers and allow the network "to provide low-latency broadband to unserved and underserved Americans that is on par with service previously only available in urban areas". The change will also improve service for U.S. government users in polar regions and allow for more rapid deployment of the network, SpaceX said. The lower orbits will help ensure the satellites re-enter the atmosphere in a shorter time in case of failure, and will enable them to broadcast signals at reduced power levels, because they are closer to Earth, which SpaceX said will allow the fleet to be compliant with limits to reduce radio interference with other satellite and terrestrial wireless networks.
The specific info on height is below that paragraph in the Wikipedia article. Whether that means it's achievable in practice or not I don't know, but geostationary orbit is 35,786 km, so that puts it at 1/65th the distance.
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink