STARLINK NETWORK

TOPIC: Science & tech

Context- Elon Musk’s satellite internet venture Starlink has started offering a ‘premium’ service to its customers.

Concept-

Starlink is a SpaceX project to build a broadband network with a cluster of orbiting spacecraft that could eventually number thousands.

What is the satellite broadband service?

The service offers low-latency broadband internet to remote areas across the globe, using a constellation of satellites in low-Earth orbit.
In other words, it allows users to connect to the internet beamed from space onto a dish antenna, much like satellite TV.
Amazon and One Web are also working on their versions of this satellite internet technology.

What is Starlink’s premium service?

The premium service claims to provide internet speeds ranging between 150 and 500 mbps. The latency of the premium service is between 20-40ms.
In contrast, the regular Starlink service has speeds between 100 and 200 mbps.

Space Internet with Low Earth Orbit

The LEO extends up to 2,000 km above the Earth’s surface.
Advantages:
- Reduced Latency: The presence of satellite at a lower height from the Earth’s surface, will help to bring the lag down to 20-30 milliseconds, roughly the time it takes for terrestrial systems to transfer data.
- More Viable: The signals from satellites in space can overcome obstacles faced by fibre-optic cables or wireless networks easily.
- The traditional ways to deliver the internet — fibre-optic cables or wireless networks are not feasible in remote areas or places with difficult terrain.
Disadvantages:
- Coverage: Due to its lower height, its signals cover a relatively small area. As a result, many more satellites are needed in order to reach signals to every part of the planet.
- Space Debris: It will generate more space debris.
- Difficulty in Space Studies: The constellations of space internet satellites will make it difficult to observe other space objects, and to detect their signals.
- Light Pollution: There will be an increased risk of light pollution. Light reflected from the man-made satellites can interfere with — and be mistaken for — light coming from other space bodies.

Can satellite-based internet services challenge terrestrial networks?

Services proposed by companies such as Starlink and One Web mainly depend on low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites.
While in the short term satellite broadband may only be targeted at remote areas where terrestrial networks haven’t reached, in the longer term it could end up competing with these networks even in the developed regions given one key benefit, which is that signals travel faster through space than they do through optic fibre cables.