Starlink, a division of SpaceX, is a satellite internet constellation operator aiming to provide high-speed, low-latency broadband internet to underserved areas globally. With over 7,000 satellites in low Earth orbit as of March 2025, Starlink offers internet services with download speeds between 50 and 220 Mbps. It utilizes phased array antennas and optical space lasers for global coverage and supports various applications, including remote work, disaster recovery, and IoT. Keywords associated with Starlink are satellite internet, SpaceX, broadband, and LEO constellation.
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SpaceX scheduled 60 Starlink satellites to launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on 2020-04-22 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
SpaceX plans to eventually launch 12,000 Starlink satellites to build a global broadband network.
Approximately 4,400 of SpaceX’s first-generation Starlink satellites use Ku-band downlinks and Ka-band uplinks.
Following the April 2023 approval to operate 1,584 first-generation Starlink satellites at lower altitudes, the FCC in December 2023 approved a request to divide those satellites among three times as many 550-kilometer orbital lanes.
SpaceX is developing new mitigation efforts for Starlink optical interference that it plans to test in the coming months.
The initial 4,400 first-generation Starlink satellites were originally approved to operate roughly 1,200 km above Earth.
SpaceX requested on 2024-04-17 authorization to operate the remaining 2,800 of the 4,400 first-generation Starlink satellites between 540 and 570 km instead of the originally approved 1,100 to 1,325-kilometer orbits.
In April 2023 the FCC approved SpaceX’s request to operate nearly 1,600 of the first-generation Starlink satellites at 550 km.
The 2024-04-17 request is SpaceX’s third request in 12 months to change its approved Starlink constellation architecture since the FCC cleared the company in 2018 to operate a 12,000-satellite megaconstellation.
SpaceX’s Starlink uses Ku-band downlinks and was already designed and in the deployment phase as of early 2020.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch the company’s sixth batch of Starlink satellites on 2020-04-16 from Kennedy Space Center.
The premature engine shutdown did not prevent the payload, a set of 60 Starlink satellites, from reaching orbit.
Astronomers using a small telescope in Chile measured DarkSat to be about 0.88 magnitudes, or 55%, dimmer than an ordinary Starlink satellite in a comparison published on arXiv on 2020-03-17.
SpaceX plans to deploy 12,000 or more Starlink satellites in the coming years.
SpaceX has placed 362 Starlink satellites into orbit, counting two experimental satellites launched in 2018.
SpaceX included an experimental DarkSat among the 60 Starlink satellites launched on 2020-01-06, with portions of the spacecraft darkened to reduce reflectivity.
SpaceX launched a set of Starlink satellites on 2020-03-18, which was the fourth Starlink launch of the year and the sixth overall.
SpaceX plans to deploy 12,000 or more Starlink broadband satellites.
The next 60 Starlink satellites are scheduled to launch on 2020-03-15.
Starlink is intended to serve the 3% to 4% hardest-to-reach customers for telcos and people who currently have no or very poor connectivity.