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It's hard to tell due to the redactions, but it seems like Starlink brought Starship into the discussion as part of the explanation of how it would have the tec

It's hard to tell due to the redactions, but it seems like Starlink brought Starship into the discussion as part of the explanation of how it would have the technical capability to deliver the service.

alwa 3y ago
I’m an unqualified casual observer and working from memory, but I seem to remember capacity and throughput promises related to the “Starlink 2.0” satellites, which Mr. Musk claims are “an order of magnitude better” than the current birds on unspecified measures [0], and without which Starlink couldn’t credibly deliver the promised service to the promised number of households in the promised time to earn the subsidy [1]. The new satellite designs got a bit mired in regulatory complications until December of 2022, but it turned out to be moot since they’re too big and heavy to get up to orbit without Starship’s lift capacity and Starship isn’t there yet (and might not be within the period the subsidy contemplated). After the decision to cancel the subsidy (which is on appeal here) was taken back in 2022, Starlink seem to have rejiggered the 2.0 satellites into a “2.0-mini” configuration suitable for launch via Falcon 9 [2]. Apparently they would like for the FCC to reconsider the subsidy decision in light of them engineering around the Starship dependency? [0] https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/spacex-starship-starlink-dispenser https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/spacex-starshi... [1] https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/starlinks-current-problem-capacity https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/starlinks-current-pro... [2] https://starlinkinsider.com/starlink-gen2-satellites/ https://starlinkinsider.com/starlink-gen2-satellites/
- throwaway4aday 3y ago
  do you mean v3 instead of v2? I thought they already had v2 in service but just weren't able to launch very many of them on falcon
  - ianburrell 3y ago
    They came up with V2 Mini satellites that can fit on Falcon 9. The original V2 can only be launched on Starship. They can launch a lot more V1.5, 48-56, than V2 Mini, 22, on Falcon 9.

alwa 3y ago

I’m an unqualified casual observer and working from memory, but I seem to remember capacity and throughput promises related to the “Starlink 2.0” satellites, which Mr. Musk claims are “an order of magnitude better” than the current birds on unspecified measures [0], and without which Starlink couldn’t credibly deliver the promised service to the promised number of households in the promised time to earn the subsidy [1]. The new satellite designs got a bit mired in regulatory complications until December of 2022, but it turned out to be moot since they’re too big and heavy to get up to orbit without Starship’s lift capacity and Starship isn’t there yet (and might not be within the period the subsidy contemplated). After the decision to cancel the subsidy (which is on appeal here) was taken back in 2022, Starlink seem to have rejiggered the 2.0 satellites into a “2.0-mini” configuration suitable for launch via Falcon 9 [2]. Apparently they would like for the FCC to reconsider the subsidy decision in light of them engineering around the Starship dependency? [0] https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/spacex-starship-starlink-dispenser https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/spacex-starshi... [1] https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/starlinks-current-problem-capacity https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/starlinks-current-pro... [2] https://starlinkinsider.com/starlink-gen2-satellites/ https://starlinkinsider.com/starlink-gen2-satellites/

throwaway4aday 3y ago
do you mean v3 instead of v2? I thought they already had v2 in service but just weren't able to launch very many of them on falcon
- ianburrell 3y ago
  They came up with V2 Mini satellites that can fit on Falcon 9. The original V2 can only be launched on Starship. They can launch a lot more V1.5, 48-56, than V2 Mini, 22, on Falcon 9.