In 2015, Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, announced they were developing space internet service called Starlink. what is Starlink?
The Starlink project offers internet access no matter where you are on the Earth. Satellite-based Internet Service makes it possible to offer all-around internet connection with decent internet speeds.
The project main motto is to deliver high-speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable.
How does Starlink work?
The goal of the Elon Musk Starlink effort is to launch thousands of small satellites around 12,000, all of which will be in low Earth orbit. They will be able to transmit fast internet signals down to Earth.
Each satellite weighs approximately 260kg and features a compact, flat-panel design that minimizes volume, allowing for a dense launch stack to take full advantage of the launch They are basically very flat and then when 60 of them are placed inside one of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets.
When they are put in orbit, a single large solar array comes out to power the satellite. The main portion includes four powerful antennas for internet transmissions.
Starlink satellites are equipped with efficient ion thrusters powered by krypton that enable the satellites to orbit raise, maneuver in space, and deorbit at the end of their useful life. Starlink is the first krypton propelled spacecraft ever flown.
Starlink internet speed
The Starlink satellites will be in low orbit, around 350 miles above the Earth. due to the distance, there will be some latency in the connection. SpaceX claims that the latency should be between 25ms and 35ms. That should be fast enough for most internet tasks, including gaming. Download speeds will be 1Gbps.
A recent thread on Reddit says Early beta tests for Starlink internet speeds shows the download speeds of between 37Mbps and 60Mbps, with upload speeds from between 4.5Mbps and 17.70Mbps.
| Ping (ms) | Download (Mbps) | Upload (Mbps) | Location | Source |
| 20 | 61.32 | 9.9 | Seattle | Confirmed Privately |
| 20 | 56.14 | 9.28 | Seattle | https://speedtest.net/result/9903521885 |
| 21 | 45.93 | 10.1 | Seattle | https://speedtest.net/result/9898715719 |
| 27 | 29.27 | 10.79 | Seattle | Confirmed Privately |
| 31 | 50.71 | 14.09 | L.A. | https://speedtest.net/result/9847351353 |
| 31 | 36.72 | 10.82 | L.A. | https://speedtest.net/result/9873021198 |
| 32 | 26.11* | 0.00* | Seattle | https://speedtest.net/result/9879640786 |
| 33 | 35.49 | 17.7 | L.A. | https://speedtest.net/result/9847281396 |
| 36 | 11.38* | 0.00* | Seattle | https://speedtest.net/result/9879632530 |
| 39 | 55.33* | 0.00* | L.A. | https://speedtest.net/result/9877314028 |
| 42 | 60.24 | 12.52 | L.A. | https://speedtest.net/result/9879937592 |
| 42 | 44.76 | 15.88 | L.A. | https://speedtest.net/result/9847134306 |
| 53 | 45.04 | 6.57 | L.A. | https://speedtest.net/result/9879935862 |
| 75 | 44.8 | 4.58 | L.A. | https://speedtest.net/result/9842319776 |
| 94 | 43.83 | 17.64 | L.A. | https://speedtest.net/result/9875193292 |
These speeds are not as we expected but maybe in coming months we can see better results