SpaceX’s Starlink – The Future of Internet Connection
https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/12/18616535/spacex-starlink-elon-musk-60-satellites-launch
**Second Link provides elaborate description of the Starlink network.
This article covers Elon Musk’s elaborate “SpaceX” plan. No longer will you find yourself with zero bars of internet service on your devices… Musk plans on providing global internet connection to anyone in the world. It’ll be like having faster than average home wifi (50Mb/s) that you can connect to anywhere, even in the woods. How is this possible? SpaceX’s Starlink initiative plans on creating a mega constellation of almost 12,000 satellites that will sit in low orbit over Earth and send down speedy internet connection to the surface below. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has granted SpaceX permission to launch two groups of satellites – one consisting of 4,409 units, and the other of 7,518 at a lower altitude, and expects the project to be done by 2027. The two groups, sitting at different altitudes, will communicate with each other via lasers, and give worldwide internet service an impressive upgrade.
3D Model of Starlink’s Satellite Network (https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Screen-Shot-2019-09-20-at-9.58.36-PM.png)
SpaceX’s mega constellation of satellites is a really cool example of a network. There are five laser links per satelite to connect to other satellites. Looking from one given satellite, the satellites ahead and behind on the orbital plane stay in place in the sky, so these are connected by the first two laser links. Satellites in the neighboring orbital planes are also fairly static, so they are connected by the fourth and fifth laser links. The satellites in crossing orbital planes pass by at a speed of 7.3km per second, so the given satellite uses its last laser link to connect to them as they pass in and out of range. This creates a network of satellites that can very quickly communicate with each other, and provide quick internet speeds to the surface below.