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I believe the "RV" version of the service costs more but lets you move around over land- but they charge even more if you want to use it at sea. The reason is
by mabbo 4y ago
I believe the "RV" version of the service costs more but lets you move around over land- but they charge even more if you want to use it at sea.
The reason is that SpaceX only can support so many users in a given region because each satellite has limited bandwidth.
- BurningFrog 4y agoI think the main issue is Starlink still needs a nearby groundstation to work. That gets harder at sea... I guess Royal Caribbean never goes that far from land?
- Jtsummers 4y agoThe colors are awful, but here is the projected coverage map for maritime use: https://api.starlink.com/public-files/maritime-coverage-map.pdf https://api.starlink.com/public-files/maritime-coverage-map.... Near-shore coverage is there because of the nearby ground stations, yes. But per that map they expect to be covering two large bands of open ocean later this year, and the rest next year. Satellite-to-satellite communication will allow users to make use of it without nearby ground stations via multiple in-space hops. Given that this press release has them deploying Starlink in their cruise ship fleet at the end of Q1 2023, that fits the above map's projections. So Starlink already has a major customer lined up for their upcoming service.
- fastball 4y agoWon't need a ground station once they have the inter-satellite laser links working.
- jq-r 4y agoRoyal Caribbean owns Silversea Cruises, and those guys go as far north and south as possible. Also everywhere else in between. This is s godsend to them, and the guests are going to appreciate it.