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Yes, northwestern US to start. The three restrictions are spectrum/telecom licenses, ground stations, and satellite orbits. They only have licenses in the US ri
by modeless 6y ago
Yes, northwestern US to start. The three restrictions are spectrum/telecom licenses, ground stations, and satellite orbits. They only have licenses in the US right now, the satellite orbits favor high latitudes, and the first ground stations are in Washington state.
They're actively pursuing licenses in many other countries including Canada and Australia. Coverage will come to lower latitudes as they fill out the satellite constellation and build more ground stations. But truly global coverage (e.g. over oceans and the poles where there are no ground stations) will have to wait until they launch their v2 constellation with cross-satellite laser links.
- samoa42 6y agoafaik pole coverage is not on the table
- nkoren 6y agoThey've got an orbital plane planned at 80 degrees, which will get pretty close.
- modeless 6y agov2 is planned to have coverage at the poles, for continuous coverage of the entire surface of the Earth. https://fcc.report/IBFS/SAT-LOA-20200526-00055/2378669 https://fcc.report/IBFS/SAT-LOA-20200526-00055/2378669