SpaceX Preps Expanding Starlink To Serve 'Mobile Users'
SpaceX’s Starlink is best known for supplying high-speed broadband to users at home. But now the company wants to expand Starlink to serve “mobile users” in remote locations, according to an FCC filing.
On Monday, SpaceX sent an application(Opens in a new window) to the FCC to operate a “mobile satellite service” through the company’s Starlink satellite constellation.
The service would involve using Starlink satellites to beam the communication data to users on the ground, instead of relying on traditional cellular base stations. SpaceX says it has the technology to pull this off after it acquired Swarm, a California startup behind nano-satellites capable of supplying internet connectivity to IoT devices in rural regions.
The company’s plan is to add a “modular payload” on its Starlink satellites capable of using the 2GHz radio band to power the mobile satellite service. SpaceX is now asking the FCC for permission to use the 2GHz spectrum and to begin operating the modular payload.
The application doesn’t offer details on what the Starlink mobile satellite service would exactly look like to consumers. But the company is hinting it’ll involve selling a portable device that can connect to the network.
“Americans are increasingly demanding connectivity wherever they are, whenever they want, and whatever they are doing,” the filing notes. “In particular, they have grown accustomed to being able to connect using small, hand-held devices that they can carry with them or affix to mobile platforms.”
The filing also says that upcoming system will leverage "existing ground equipment and user terminals" for Starlink while adding "new earth-station equipment to optimize performance for consumers." So it's possible the mobile
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