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I thought the purpose of the low orbits was to lower latency. To make the internet usable. Other satellite internet has much longer latency because of the dista
by DitheringIdiot 5y ago
I thought the purpose of the low orbits was to lower latency. To make the internet usable. Other satellite internet has much longer latency because of the distance the signals need to travel.
Are they saying the satellites start out lower and then go higher later?
- gvb 5y agoYes. They state "the low deployment altitude requires more capable satellites at a considerable cost to us" - the extra cost is in the extra fuel required to raise the satellite's orbit - this results in less fuel available for maintaining the satellite's orbit and thus a shorter lifetime.
- jelder 5y agoThe "higher" altitude is still quite low compared to most of the existing satellite internet providers.
- NelsonMinar 5y agoCurrent Starlink satellites operate at 550km. They launch them to 210km. The linked post talks about this in detail.