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Elon Musk says a device resembling a ‘UFO on a stick’ will connect people to SpaceX’s new Starlink satellite internet service

By Dave Mosher From Business Insider

  • SpaceX rocketed another 60 internet-providing Starlink satellites at once on Monday night, adding to 120 previously launched to space.
  • The more than 170 working satellites makes the company, founded by tech mogul Elon Musk, the single-largest operator of spacecraft in orbit around Earth.
  • On Tuesday, Musk tweeted there would be “no training required” for users to connect to SpaceX’s globe-encircling network: Just point a device that looks like a “UFO on a stick” at the sky and plug it in.
  • Starlink is one of several “megaconstellations” of thousands of satellites that companies plan to launch this decade. SpaceX plans to launch up to 42,000 before the end of the decade, which may boost the company’s value up to $120 billion.

On Monday evening, SpaceX, the rocket company founded by tech mogul Elon Musk, blasted a fresh batch of Starlink internet satellitesinto orbit. The mission added 60 new versions of the spacecraft to a network of 120 already circling Earth — a total of 180 launched into space.

Though several experimental Starlink satellites launched in Mayhave stopped working, SpaceX now manages more private space satellites than any company, according to Ars Technica. (About2,200 functional spacecraft orbit Earth today.)

SpaceX is just getting started, though: The company plans to launch 60 more satellites about every two weeks in 2020, perhaps ramping up missions to get as many as 42,000 flown before the end of the decade. The network should boot up after several hundred are in space, ostensibly getting early adopters online later this year.

But there remains an open question of how, exactly, anyone will connect to SpaceX’s next-generation satellite internet network.

During a press call earlier this year, Musk described a computer-powered antenna terminal that would look like “a small to medium-size pizza.”

On Tuesday, Musk tweeted a colorful new description of a terminal:

Looks like a thin, flat, round UFO on a stick. Starlink Terminal has motors to self-adjust optimal angle to view sky. Instructions are simply:
– Plug in socket
– Point at sky
These instructions work in either order. No training required.

Musk uploaded no picture of a Starlink terminal, though he’stweeted using a prototype that’s at his home in Los Angeles, according to Space News.

‘This is very different business for SpaceX’

space starlink satellite internet coverage animation signal cones_slow.2019 10 18 14_13_35
An animation of SpaceX’s Starlink providing internet coverage to the Americas. 

Musk previously said Starlink terminal antennas would be “electronically steered,” allowing one to switch connections from one satellite flying out of view to one coming into view “in less than a millisecond.”

The addition of a steering motor, according to Musk’s tweet, suggests electronic switching alone is not be enough to maintain a reliable connection to satellites in typical use cases.

Musk said in 2015 that SpaceX’s terminals (before they earned the name Starlink) would cost $100 to $300 each. However, the cheapest any manufacturer is selling such devices for today is about $1,000,according to Tim Farrar, an industry analyst. As with Starlink satellites themselves, SpaceX is designing and manufacturing the terminals, which President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell told reporters in October was no trivial task.

“This is very different business for SpaceX,” she said, according to Space News. “It’s leveraging space technology, but it’s a consumer business.”

spacex starlink internet satellite spacecraft solar panels arrays earth orbit illustration 00002
An illustration of SpaceX’s Starlink in orbit around Earth. 

Starlink is not alone in the push to launch megaconstellations of internet-providing satellites.Iridium is beefing up its network, as is OneWeb. Larger tech powerhouses like Amazonare also looking to establish their own fleets. Apple is also quietly working on the tech, according to Bloomberg.

Though these fleets could bathe Earth in unprecedentedly fast, pervasive, and low-cost internet, not everyone has taken a liking to them.

Astronomers have repeatedly and loudly voiced their complaints about the brightness of the satellites in the night sky (which have prompted many reports of UFOs). SpaceX, to its credit, has coated the Earth-facing side of its new Starlink satellites with a substance to make it less shiny, though the move is experimental.

There are also concerns about space junk: Launching so many satellites will increase the risk of orbital collisions and debris fields. SpaceX says its Starlink satellites use a small krypton-ion engine to move around and autonomously dodge high-speed threats, though a communications error led to a close call with a European satellite in September.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to questions sent by Business Insider.

For more on this story go to; https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-user-terminal-flat-round-ufo-stick-elon-musk-2020-1

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