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rerei, five, no, 60 bright spots appear in the sky. They are like a string of lights. There are no shooting stars, no planes or planets. Objects are moving too fast online. They are the first Starlink satellites to be launched into space at the end of 2019. Due to the initially small distance between the individual satellites, so-called trains, an unusual series of shows in the sky, could be observed.
Starlink, translated as “star link”, is part of Elon Musk’s space travel empire, SpaceX. While SpaceX, with its reusable Falcon 9 rockets, became one of the most dazzling and successful startups in the world, Starlink remained long under the radar. The goal of the project is nothing less than to bring fast Internet to the most remote places in the world, and at an affordable price. The Federal Network Agency has now granted approval for Starlink in Germany. This makes the Federal Republic of Germany the third country, after the United States and Canada, that can access the Internet from space.
Favorable geographic location
Germany came into play because it is in a favorable geographical location, says Hans Koenigsmann in an interview with FAZ The aerospace engineer is one of the first employees of SpaceX and is vice president of the American company. Even if there are some areas in Germany without a good internet connection, says Königsmann, Starlink is more suitable for rural regions and other continents. “Our goal is to cover the whole world, but especially in areas that have not had good service before,” says Königsmann. According to data from the ITU International Telecommunication Agency, almost half of people did not have access to broadband Internet in 2019.
Spectators at Cape Canaveral Spaceport: A Falcon 9 rocket shoots 60 Starlink satellites into space.
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Image: Imago
That could change soon with Starlink. Starlink wants to connect the 3 to 4 percent of the most difficult to reach customers who have poor or no Internet. SpaceX boss Elon Musk announced this at a conference this year. His space company recently received $ 886 million in funding to expand the Starlink network. The money comes from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, a more than $ 20 billion fund that promotes high-speed internet to rural America. Musk’s satellites are already having an impact: In October, a Native American tribe, the Hoh, thanked on Twitter for a faster internet through SpaceX. This allows children to participate in distance learning.
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High data rate
SpaceX promises a comparatively high data rate. Download speeds are currently in the range of 50 to 150 megabits per second, while uploads reach 20 megabits, as explained by manager Königsmann. They are currently a bit faster because Starlink is only used by a few. The sky project does not intend to compete with conventional Internet providers, as Musk himself emphasized: “I want to be very clear: Starlink is not a threat to telecommunications companies.”
Especially in terms of price, it currently isn’t anyway. In November, Starlink began a beta testing phase in the United States, it is called: “Better than nothing”, better than nothing. This will give the first Starlink Internet customers from space. You pay about $ 500 for the starter pack, plus $ 99 each month for use. That will likely ruin the wallets of many stakeholders. But in the long run, costs should decrease, Königsmann promises.
Set up in a few minutes
The package includes a satellite dish the size of a pizza, a router and a long cable. Musk says that it is important that customers do not need any special knowledge to configure the terminal. “There are two instructions: configure the satellite dish and connect the plug.” The order is not important.
