SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth • Hacker News Board

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#341

Post by jandhdhshhh » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:26 AM UTC

consumer451 wrote: post #5

When Starlink first became available here in poor-ish Central-EU, I was excited. Then, only months later, but after years of planning: EU funding brought fiber to my farm area, at ~$25/900mbps 10ms. While my story is just n=1, I don't understand the huge upside for Starlink outside of Africa or India, where they have However, I am dumb, and very open to be convinced.

Most people hate Comcast’s and att duopoly so much that’s reason enough to get starlink. I just got it in ca and it works very well

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#342

Post by dualvariable » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:28 AM UTC

zwily wrote: post #115

tim-tday wrote: post #110

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome I wonder what spacex will be worth when launching satellites is impossible for a couple hundred years.

Kessler is much less of a problem at their altitude (480km). Debris has too much drag and would get pulled down too quick to have a sustained Kessler situation. It's possible, but very very unlikely at that altitude.

You could still generate a mess for 5-10 years at that altitude. Even if it self-clears you still destroy the constellation and deny access to LEO for years.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#343

Post by kaliqt » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:32 AM UTC

sidcool wrote: post #284

I understand no one here likes Elon. But does it mean we find justifications for our collective bias in everything his companies do?

Yes, it would seem so.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#344

Post by anakaine » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:33 AM UTC

consumer451 wrote: post #5

When Starlink first became available here in poor-ish Central-EU, I was excited. Then, only months later, but after years of planning: EU funding brought fiber to my farm area, at ~$25/900mbps 10ms. While my story is just n=1, I don't understand the huge upside for Starlink outside of Africa or India, where they have However, I am dumb, and very open to be convinced.

Australian here. We generally have 1st world internet for most towns. The moment you are outside suburbia, speeds are embarrassingly slow. On my own farm, we dont even have power, or city water, and little to no mobile / cellular reception. We are like hundreds of thousands of other people with rural property here. I suspect the same is true in New Zealand, much of South America, Pacific Islands, Indian Ocean Islands, rural Canada, and often times rural USA.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#345

Post by quantummagic » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:37 AM UTC

consumer451 wrote: post #5

When Starlink first became available here in poor-ish Central-EU, I was excited. Then, only months later, but after years of planning: EU funding brought fiber to my farm area, at ~$25/900mbps 10ms. While my story is just n=1, I don't understand the huge upside for Starlink outside of Africa or India, where they have However, I am dumb, and very open to be convinced.

Everyone at sea, uses them now.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#346

Post by ls612 » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:40 AM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #28

ls612 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of matter which enters Earth's atmosphere from non-manmade sources is far higher than any conceivable amount of space junk today.

But a significantly different makeup than plain old rock dust.

It is gonna be mostly aluminum, lithium, and silicon isn't it? Nothing too extraordinary or weird.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#347

Post by baranul » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:42 AM UTC

At what point are people going to have a conversation about all the pollution and the consequences of so many satellites burning up (metals and other toxic stuff) in the atmosphere and fragments falling wherever.

100k... how much can we keep putting up and let keep falling around the world? Multiple other companies and countries want to do the same as SpaceX.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#348

Post by jen20 » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:43 AM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #55

basisword wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And this is exactly why we don't need internet on planes.

Yeah, planes are noisy enough without making them into a call center cubicle farm.

Voice and video calls are both outlawed in the US by the DOT.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#349

Post by freakynit » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:52 AM UTC

consumer451 wrote: post #5

When Starlink first became available here in poor-ish Central-EU, I was excited. Then, only months later, but after years of planning: EU funding brought fiber to my farm area, at ~$25/900mbps 10ms. While my story is just n=1, I don't understand the huge upside for Starlink outside of Africa or India, where they have However, I am dumb, and very open to be convinced.

From India here:

With their current pricing, they can't compete with local vendors. These local vendors charge like $10/month for 100-200mbps (vendor/bundle dependent) speeds, with no data-capping. For just $5 extra, they also bundle 20+ OTT channels, including netflix and prime video (HD only).

And yes, fiber connections are everywhere here for past 5 years... and I'm from a very small town here.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#350

Post by tyre » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:52 AM UTC

rurp wrote: post #259

steve_adams_86 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here along the BC Coast, the organization I work for has an expansive sensor network. Weather stations, CTDs, custom equipment in watersheds, research facilities with all kinds of equipment to monitor, and so on. There is no broadband or fiber on remote islands along the coast. We used to use satellite internet, and getting data off of our main hubs (everything is relayed to the hubs by radio) was very slow and preca…

Sure, and that's great, but this is an extremely small niche case right? No one is denying that there are some cases where Starlink is amazing, but niche products don't usually command a $1T value.

If you read the SpaceX IPO docs, the vast majority of their self-stated addressable market is AI enterprise SaaS tools.

I’m not joking.