Live Starlink Satellite and Coverage Map

I thought the answer to this would be simple but it's pretty complex! From a Quora answer:

> They are in 12 hour orbits because that is the result of optimizing the number of satellites needed to cover the Earth, plus having at least 4 satellites visible at the same time from a spot on the earth, with the satellites being spread out across the sky. It also helps that they move fairly slowly, so the Doppler is changing slowly during the PN code acquisition phase. Remember that this system was basically designed in the late 1970s, and we didn’t have 2 GHz processors in wristwatches - a GPS receiver had to acquire and process the signals to get a fix, and it had to be something that a single person could carry.

> If you go lower, you need a lot more satellites (see, e.g., Iridium or Teledesic with 77 and hundreds, respectively), and they move faster across the sky. Each GPS satellite carries an atomic clock (Cesium or Rubidium, depending on the batch) and they’re not cheap to build. The fast motion also makes acquisition harder, and low orbits are more affected by the imperfect Earth’s gravity - in order to calculate your GPS position, your receiver needs to know EXACTLY where the satellite is - that’s harder in a low orbit.

> If you go higher, 3 satellites in GEO will cover the equatorial earth, but you also need satellites in inclined orbits - you want your satellites to be spread across the sky, so your position accuracy isn’t degraded because they’re in a line or a clump. I think it actually takes more satellites to get the required coverage from GEO height (think about needing to cover the polar regions) - you could probably do some Molniya orbits, but that makes things more complex for other reasons.

https://www.quora.com/Why-are-GPS-satellites-placed-below-ge...

I’m curious about how can they ensure connectivity for a particular area. Is it just that they place a bunch of satellites in orbits and hope that they have enough density? Or is there a method to the madness?

I am assuming a single satellite covers very small area, in this case a single hexagonal area

I took a screenshot of the default view on my web browser. The satellites appear to be around 100km in diameter, but they are in reality 7m wide, so they are 14,000x larger on the map than in reality. The entire constellation would fit within 0.2% of one of the white dots as they appear in the map.

Then you need to remember that the space is 3D, unlike road surfaces (ignoring bridges etc.)

SpaceX have sought approval for 12,000 satellites, with a possible extension to 42,000. Right now they have less than 4,000. I think they have substantially fewer satellites than they believe they require, and the service is probably doomed in the long run if they can't get Starship flying.