Jun 01, 2022 11:26:00

SpaceX leader Elon Musk talks about 'next generation Starlink satellites', weight gain requires Starship to launch

The satellite Internet '

Starlink ' provided by space development company SpaceX is a service that makes it possible to use the Internet even in areas where infrastructure development is inadequate by using artificial satellites, and antennas were also deployed in Ukraine during the war. It became a hot topic. Meanwhile, a video of SpaceX leader Elon Musk talking about the 'next generation Starlink satellite' has been released.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Talks Next Generation Starlink Satellites
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-elon-musk-starlink-satellites-starlink-2-0-1848995490

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reveals next-generation Starlink satellite details
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-elon-musk-next-gen-starlink-satellite-details/

Musk talks about the next-generation Starlink satellite in a face-to-face interview with Musk on the YouTube channel Everyday Astronaut , which has more than one million subscribers. From around 9 minutes and 30 seconds in the embedded video below, you can see Mr. Musk talking about the next-generation Starlink satellite 'Starlink 2.0'.

(1) Go up SpaceX's Starship-catching robotic launch tower with Elon Musk! --YouTube


According to Musk, SpaceX has already built the first Starlink 2.0 satellite.

One Starlink 2.0 satellite weighs about 1.25 tons and is about 7 meters long, significantly more than the conventional Starlink 1.0 satellite, which weighs about 260 kg.

Due to the increased weight, the commercial launch vehicle

Falcon 9 , which has been used to launch the Starlink satellite, cannot launch the Starlink 2.0 satellite, so it is necessary to launch it using the reusable super-large rocket Starship . There is. 'If Starship doesn't work and fly often, Starlink 2.0 will get stuck on the ground,' Musk said.

Musk points out that what is important in Starlink's

satellite constellation is not the number of satellite launches, but the total amount of data bits it can provide. Starlink 2.0 satellites have an order of magnitude more useful data bits than Starlink 1.0, and the total amount of data bits that can be provided for the mass of the same launched satellite is larger.

Technology media Teslarati says that if Musk's remarks are true, the Starlink 2.0 satellite can provide about twice the bandwidth with the same satellite mass compared to its predecessor. In addition, Starship states that, considering that it can carry about 10 times the mass of Falcon 9 to low earth orbit, theoretically, the network capacity that can be expanded with one launch will be about 20 times that of the conventional one.

At the time of writing, Starship is suffering from development delays, and there are many obstacles to the launch of the Starlink 2.0 satellite, including NASA sending a letter to the Federal Communications Commission expressing concern about the increase in Starlink satellites . Still, Teslarati considered that the benefits of increased bandwidth from Starlink 2.0 satellites would be significant, and hopefully could provide satellite Internet to tens to hundreds of millions of people.