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OT but related... Starlink would really be useful in Tonga right about now, with their fibre-optic connection severed and expected to be out of commission for a

OT but related... Starlink would really be useful in Tonga right about now, with their fibre-optic connection severed and expected to be out of commission for at least a month.

T-A 5y ago
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-21/elon-musk-offering-satellite-internet-to-tsunami-hit-tonga https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-21/elon-musk...
ceejayoz 5y ago
Not in its current state; it relies on a local ground station as they don't have the inter-satellite relaying via lasers working yet. Coming "soon", but that's Elon saying so. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1482424984962101249 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1482424984962101249
- leobg 5y ago
  Are you sure? AFAIK the laser links are just needed to further reduce latency. I don’t think SpaceX needs any ground stations. Elon even talked about governments in countries like Afghanistan not being able to do anything against their citizens using Starlink apart from “shaking their fists at the sky”.
  - emteycz 5y ago
    A ground station is required in the current version of Starlink. Without it, the satellite has no internet connection to offer to clients.
    - leobg 5y ago
      Ah. Of course. A ground station within the visibility cone of the individual satellite. You are right!
  - cool_dude85 5y ago
    Damn, Elon was telling a stupid lie? Consider me shocked. Anyway, when's your dancing robot coming? Mine's about to ship.
  - Thervicarl 5y ago
    > I don’t think SpaceX needs any ground stations It is not magic. You signal from the user terminal has to reach a ground station / gateway connected to the Internet. Either there are inter-satellite links and the signal can be routed to a gateway far away. Or there are not and the gateway need to be at most a few hundred kilometers away if you satellites are in orbit at 400km. > Afghanistan not being able to do anything against their citizens using Starlink apart from “shaking their fists at the sky”. Or sentence to death people caught with a Starlink dish on their roof.
    - leobg 5y ago
      You are right.
- ErikCorry 5y ago
  There's only 568km from Tonga to Niue, who still have Internet. I wonder if that's close enough to use a hypothetical Niue base station to bounce Internet off a Starlink to Tonga. Might be a little patchy depending on the exact locations of the satellites at any time. Edit: Looks like Starlink doesn't have great coverage at this latitude anyway, currently: https://findstarlink.com/#4032402;3 https://findstarlink.com/#4032402;3
  - gpm 5y ago
    The site you're linking to is talking about visible starlink satellites, not starlink coverage. Starlink is definitely available at that latitude (in the sense that there is signal, not in the sense that SpaceX is currently taking customers or has set up base stations), in the southern hemisphere the only significant landmass that doesn't have more or less constant coverage is Antarctica. Back when coverage was more spotty, I made this map. I'd probably change some things if I revisited it now that there are lots of satellites up, but it's good enough for demonstrating the point: https://droid.cafe/starlink https://droid.cafe/starlink
    - ErikCorry 5y ago
      Thanks yes I misunderstood the site
  - mr_toad 5y ago
    The satellites have a ground footprint of about 4700km, so if there was a base station in Niue it should be easily in range. From what I’m reading no one on Tonga has a Starlink terminal, and there aren’t any base stations in the pacific.
iso1631 5y ago
Currently Starlink doesn't do Satelite-Satelite communication, so you'd have to downlink reasonably close to Tonga. Even ignoring the lack of downlink equipment, the maximum range is about 250 miles. Fiji is the nearest realistic location to downlink, Suva, where many cables land (including the cable from Tonga). It's 466 miles, way over the horizon.

OT but related... Starlink would really be useful in Tonga right about now, with their fibre-optic connection severed and expected to be out of commission for at least a month.

T-A 5y ago

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-21/elon-musk-offering-satellite-internet-to-tsunami-hit-tonga https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-21/elon-musk...

ceejayoz 5y ago

Not in its current state; it relies on a local ground station as they don't have the inter-satellite relaying via lasers working yet. Coming "soon", but that's Elon saying so. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1482424984962101249 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1482424984962101249

leobg 5y ago
Are you sure? AFAIK the laser links are just needed to further reduce latency. I don’t think SpaceX needs any ground stations. Elon even talked about governments in countries like Afghanistan not being able to do anything against their citizens using Starlink apart from “shaking their fists at the sky”.
- emteycz 5y ago
  A ground station is required in the current version of Starlink. Without it, the satellite has no internet connection to offer to clients.
  - leobg 5y ago
    Ah. Of course. A ground station within the visibility cone of the individual satellite. You are right!
- cool_dude85 5y ago
  Damn, Elon was telling a stupid lie? Consider me shocked. Anyway, when's your dancing robot coming? Mine's about to ship.
- Thervicarl 5y ago
  > I don’t think SpaceX needs any ground stations It is not magic. You signal from the user terminal has to reach a ground station / gateway connected to the Internet. Either there are inter-satellite links and the signal can be routed to a gateway far away. Or there are not and the gateway need to be at most a few hundred kilometers away if you satellites are in orbit at 400km. > Afghanistan not being able to do anything against their citizens using Starlink apart from “shaking their fists at the sky”. Or sentence to death people caught with a Starlink dish on their roof.
  - leobg 5y ago
    You are right.
ErikCorry 5y ago
There's only 568km from Tonga to Niue, who still have Internet. I wonder if that's close enough to use a hypothetical Niue base station to bounce Internet off a Starlink to Tonga. Might be a little patchy depending on the exact locations of the satellites at any time. Edit: Looks like Starlink doesn't have great coverage at this latitude anyway, currently: https://findstarlink.com/#4032402;3 https://findstarlink.com/#4032402;3
- gpm 5y ago
  The site you're linking to is talking about visible starlink satellites, not starlink coverage. Starlink is definitely available at that latitude (in the sense that there is signal, not in the sense that SpaceX is currently taking customers or has set up base stations), in the southern hemisphere the only significant landmass that doesn't have more or less constant coverage is Antarctica. Back when coverage was more spotty, I made this map. I'd probably change some things if I revisited it now that there are lots of satellites up, but it's good enough for demonstrating the point: https://droid.cafe/starlink https://droid.cafe/starlink
  - ErikCorry 5y ago
    Thanks yes I misunderstood the site
- mr_toad 5y ago
  The satellites have a ground footprint of about 4700km, so if there was a base station in Niue it should be easily in range. From what I’m reading no one on Tonga has a Starlink terminal, and there aren’t any base stations in the pacific.

iso1631 5y ago

Currently Starlink doesn't do Satelite-Satelite communication, so you'd have to downlink reasonably close to Tonga. Even ignoring the lack of downlink equipment, the maximum range is about 250 miles. Fiji is the nearest realistic location to downlink, Suva, where many cables land (including the cable from Tonga). It's 466 miles, way over the horizon.