4 ms·
Wouldn't be surprised if it were that order of magnitude, but I bet the engineering effort cost much, much more. I'm ballparking the PCB alone at a hundred doll
by inamberclad 6y ago
Wouldn't be surprised if it were that order of magnitude, but I bet the engineering effort cost much, much more. I'm ballparking the PCB alone at a hundred dollars each (that large of a multilayer board with controlled impedance), custom silicon probably had a high startup cost that will eventually amortize, a few hundred dollars in extra components, and then an expensive custom process for the top section with all the antennas.
- xoa 6y agoWouldn't SpaceX be amortizing though vs their satellites and rockets too? They must have had to invest a significant amount in R&D and supply chain setup already to figure out aerospace grade electronics. It seems like the terminals, despite being extremely impressive, would still be much easier (and could reuse some know-how) than what they've needed to deal with for their rockets, capsules, and satellites? And they're definitely aiming pretty mass market with millions of terminals in the US alone.
- delfinom 6y agoRight now these dishes are most likely completely overdesigned on the high-end RF scale. Unless Elon is repeating his stupidity of hiring a idiot of a consultant like they did for the Model 3 body (and eventually fired when made look bad by that reverse engineering firm). The design should get cost reduced in the future once they have enough field feedback over RF performance/behavior.