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Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

starlinkmap.org

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Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#151

Post by goykasi »

k4rli wrote: post #61
lom wrote: post #58

> The Starlink constellation could serve up to 188,160 MB/sec to Earth. Does that feel very slow to anyone else?

So 100Mbps for ~16k people. Barely useful. I can only ever see it being useful for real rural people, who don't get any 4G signal, but these people might also not want to pay the crazy subscription fees or $500+ for the equipment. I don't see any reason why anyone living in or <100km near a city would ever want this. 5G mobile can already provide 500Mbps and fiber is just unbeatable. At least the night sky was ruined…

Starlink was never meant for the urban masses. Its usecase (from the start) was for people in rural areas where low or no speed options are available. This is perfect for people like my parents living at the top of a mountain in rural SC. They just managed to get a cellular signal a few years ago. And their only choice of internet was dialup or DirectTV (HughesNet? -- slow, high latency and expensive).

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#152

Post by kube-system »

squarefoot wrote: post #42
Klaster_1 wrote: post #9

Wow, I knew Starlink had an enormous constellation, but visualizing it like that really empathizes the scope. Would be cool if one day you could get your connectivity needs handled by a single company cheaply, almost anywhere in the world, without bothering about new contracts, moving cities or country borders.

A single company and cheaply are usually mutually exclusive as competition is what keeps prices down.

> if one day you could get your connectivity needs handled by a single company

is referring to the service area, not the number of competitors.

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#153

Post by jdminhbg »

globular-toast wrote: post #138
chrisco255 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The map makes these things appear much larger than they are at scale. There is a massive amount of space out there.

That's what they said about IPv4 addresses. But this time there isn't even the possibility of an IPv6-like upgrade.

What? Of course there is. Starlink satellites have a five year lifespan before they deorbit, and can be commanded to do so earlier if there’s an issue.

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#154

Post by typon »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #94
domh wrote: post #73

This is wild. I had no idea of the scope of Starlink satellites in orbit. What is the life cycle of one of these satellites? How long do they last in orbit? Can they be controlled where they crash land down? How many different versions of the satellites are in orbit? I wonder how often they have their software updated and what happens in the failure state of an unsuccessful update?

They have a lifespan of about 5 years, the limit is the amount of maneuvering propellant to compensate for atmospheric drag they have on board. Next gen, which will be launched by the much larger Starship, may have a lot more propellant. Most are in a five year orbit. This means that if SpaceX loses control of the satellite it will deorbit in five years due to atmospheric drag. Under control they deorbit within hours…

If they send them farther out does that increase their lifespan due to thinner atmosphere? Why target 1 year instead of five year?

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#156

Post by wmf »

LorenDB wrote: post #88
Klaster_1 wrote: post #9

Wow, I knew Starlink had an enormous constellation, but visualizing it like that really empathizes the scope. Would be cool if one day you could get your connectivity needs handled by a single company cheaply, almost anywhere in the world, without bothering about new contracts, moving cities or country borders.

Elon has already stated that Starlink is not a replacement for a quality wired/fiber connection. His goal with Starlink is to cover areas that aren't covered by ISPs for whatever reason.

I once read about a gas station chain that used VSAT for credit card processing because it's faster than POTS and they didn't have to deal with different local telcos/ISPs. I'm not sure how true that is, but for some low-bandwidth uses I can see the appeal of having a single national/worldwide ISP.

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#157

Post by modeless »

londons_explore wrote: post #29
modeless wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a bad take. There are plenty of regulatory bodies that control what SpaceX is allowed to do. The satellites are not visible to the eye in their operational orbits and are incredibly tiny compared to the vastness of space. Their depiction here is thousands of times larger than actual size.

There are 7.8 billion people on earth. 7.5 billion of them had no say at all, and 0.33 billion of them had a tiny say via elected representatives who wrote the laws before starlink was even envisioned. I'm pretty sure if a global vote was held on the question of "Would you like to have 10,000 satellites launched so you have the option of paying a US company for broadband anywhere in the world?", the vote outcome woul…

There are a lot of good reasons we don't have worldwide direct democracy for everything...

And it's absolutely not true that the US is the only country that has a say here. International regulatory bodies exist as well. Maybe the citizens of some countries don't have effective governments that express their will at the UN but that's not SpaceX's fault. There is a process to have everyone's voice heard. It's not the wild west.

And I think you underestimate how much people like and want truly global wireless internet service. The value to the world is enormous.

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#158

Post by Closi »

wmf wrote: post #156
LorenDB wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elon has already stated that Starlink is not a replacement for a quality wired/fiber connection. His goal with Starlink is to cover areas that aren't covered by ISPs for whatever reason.

I once read about a gas station chain that used VSAT for credit card processing because it's faster than POTS and they didn't have to deal with different local telcos/ISPs. I'm not sure how true that is, but for some low-bandwidth uses I can see the appeal of having a single national/worldwide ISP.

I work in manufacturing/logistics and lots of facilities have starlink.

With all software in the cloud now (e.g. WMS) losing connectivity can cause a facility to stop, so having an entirely segregated line on an entirely separate technology platform is worth a lot. Lots of production/warehouse facilities struggle to get truly redundant lines to them, and often are sitting outside of 4G range.

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#159

Post by jjwiseman »

I made a version of whatsoverhead.com but for satellites: You could ask it, "Hey, Siri, what's overhead…in space?" and it would tell you what the nearest satellite to you was. It was an attempt to help situate yourself in the invisible world of spacecraft flying overhead all the time. The thing is, 70-90% of the time the answer is "STARLINK-1234". It was shocking to me. The app achieved the goal I intended, and the answer was a surprise–it was a more visceral way of understanding the fact that there are a lot of Starlink satellites, for sure.
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