National Interest by Stephen Silver 7/6/2022
Starlink has been described as a “satellite megaconstellation,” which will put as many as 42,000 satellites into low-earth orbit.The FCC has granted an application by SpaceX to offer Starlink WiFi service in cars, and in other forms of transportation such as boats and planes. It will join the home internet service already available, as well as partnerships with the likes of Delta and Hawaiian Airlines. Deals with cruise lines are also reportedly in the works.
“We agree with SpaceX and Kepler that their proposed ESIM operations on an unprotected, non-harmful interference basis in the 12 GHz band will not materially impact the interference environment in that band. In the case of SpaceX, the satellite network’s downlink beams that will be used for ESIMs in 12 GHz are already used with blanket-authorized fixed user terminals,” the FCC said in its announcement.
“These beams are independently steerable over the full field of view of the Earth, and the fixed earth stations will be distributed throughout the service area based on a wide range of factors. These factors render predictions about deployment of earth stations to specific locations speculative. ... Further, given the necessarily short duration of any contact between any individual SpaceX or Kepler satellite and an individual earth station there is no reason to expect that the motion of the ESIM terminal during that short duration will substantially or materially impact the overall interference environment,” the announcement continued.
More:
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/wi-fi-cars-fcc-approves-elon-musks-starlink-internet-service-203419
