Satellite internet connections to planes, ships, and moving vehicles is the next frontier for SpaceX unit Starlink with a request in to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for permission to launch equipment to do so..
Commercial mobile services will mark a new frontier for Starlink, which is currently beta-testing its service using fixed antennas. The arrival of SpaceX into the mobility market could also worsen matters for Redmond-based Kymeta, a connectivity venture supported by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
In its application to the FCC, SpaceX stated that the extension of Starlink's availability to moving vehicles, moving vessels, and aircraft worldwide would benefit the public interest.
In an online work posting that came to light last week, SpaceX said it plans to produce "millions of consumer-facing devices" for Starlink service at a factory to be constructed in Austin, Texas.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet that Starlink's ESIM terminals would be too massive to be mounted on cars-such as electric cars manufactured by Tesla, the other company headed by Musk-but would be ideal for large trucks and RVs.
Starlink satellite operations are located at the SpaceX facility in Redmond, which is identified as a remote control point location in the new FCC application. A few miles away, Kymeta has been working on its own mobile communications system, which uses flat-panel antennas to offer hybrid satellite-cell services.
Last November, Kymeta launched its next-generation U8 system, which will expand broadband communication to land, air, and sea vehicles. At the time, Kymeta executive Neville Meijers said that his company would "support all the different platforms out there," including Starlink.
SpaceX and Kymeta are not the only rivals in the satellite connectivity race: With conditional approval from the FCC, Amazon has pledged $10 billion to the Kuiper Satellite Project, also headquartered in Redmond. The British-Indian OneWeb and Canada's largest satellite provider, Telesat, are both developing broadband satellite constellations in low Earth orbit.
The FCC is now considering a request from SpaceX to rework the orbital parameters of the Starlink constellation, with Amazon expressing opposition. The Commission's decisions on this subject, and the SpaceX proposal for mobile broadband services, could signal the Biden administration's approach to the proliferation of mega-constellations.
