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Starlink

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by Starlink Services, LLC, an international telecommunications provider that is a wholly owned subsidiary of American aerospace company SpaceX, providing coverage to around 150 countries and territories. It also aims to provide global mobile broadband. Starlink has been instrumental to SpaceX's growth.

History
Background Constellations of low Earth orbit satellites were first conceptualized in the mid-1980s as part of the Strategic Defense Initiative, culminating in Brilliant Pebbles, where weapons were to be staged in low orbits to intercept ballistic missiles at short notice. The potential for low-latency communication was also recognized and development offshoots in the 1990s led to numerous commercial megaconstellations using around 100 satellites such as Celestri, Teledesic, Iridium, and Globalstar. However, all entities entered bankruptcy by the dot-com bubble burst, due in part to excessive launch costs at the time. , long-time proponent of low Earth orbit constellations for military purposes (2005). In 2004, Larry Williams, SpaceX VP of Strategic Relations and former VP of Teledesic's "Internet in the sky" program, opened the SpaceX Washington DC office. That June, SpaceX acquired a 10% stake in Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) as part of a "shared strategic vision". SSTL was at that time working to extend the Internet into space. However, SpaceX's stake was eventually sold back to EADS Astrium in 2008 after the company became more focused on navigation and Earth observation. In early 2014, Elon Musk and Greg Wyler were working together planning a constellation of around 700 satellites called WorldVu, which would be over 10 times the size of the then largest Iridium satellite constellation. However, these discussions broke down in June 2014, and SpaceX instead filed an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) application via the Norwegian Communications Authority under the name STEAM. SpaceX confirmed the connection in the 2016 application to license Starlink with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). SpaceX trademarked the name Starlink in the United States for their satellite broadband network; the name was inspired by the 2012 novel The Fault in Our Stars. Design phase (2015–2016) Starlink was publicly announced in January 2015 with the opening of the SpaceX satellite development facility in Redmond, Washington. During the opening, Musk stated there is still significant unmet demand worldwide for low-cost broadband capabilities. and that Starlink would target bandwidth to carry up to 50% of all backhaul communications traffic, and up to 10% of local Internet traffic, in high-density cities. Musk further stated that the positive cash flow from selling satellite internet services would be necessary to fund their Mars plans. Furthermore, SpaceX has long-term plans to develop and deploy a version of the satellite communication system to serve Mars. Starting with 60 engineers, the company operated in of leased space, and by January 2017 had taken on a second facility, both in Redmond. In August 2018, SpaceX consolidated all their Seattle-area operations with a move to a larger three-building facility at Redmond Ridge Corporate Center to support satellite manufacturing in addition to R&D. The Irvine office would include signal processing, RFIC, and ASIC development for the satellite program. By October 2016, the satellite division was focusing on a significant business challenge of achieving a sufficiently low-cost design for the user equipment. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said at the time that the project remained in the "design phase as the company seeks to tackle issues related to user-terminal cost". Start of development phase (2016–2019) In November 2016, SpaceX applied to the FCC for a license to operate a "non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite system in the fixed-satellite service using the Ku- and Ka- frequency bands". In September 2017, the FCC granted a license that required half of the constellation to be in orbit within six years and that the full system would be operating within nine years from the date of the license. SpaceX filed documents in late 2017 with the FCC to clarify their space debris mitigation plan, under which the company was to implement an operations plan for the orderly de-orbit of satellites nearing the end of their useful lives (roughly five to seven years) at a rate far faster than is required under international standards. [Satellites] will de-orbit by propulsively moving to a disposal orbit from which they will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere within approximately one year after completion of their mission. (CCAFS), Florida, delivering 60 Starlink satellites to orbit on November 11, 2019. In March 2018, the FCC granted SpaceX approval for the initial 4,425 satellites, with some conditions. SpaceX would need to obtain a separate approval from the ITU. The FCC supported a NASA request to ask SpaceX to achieve an even higher level of de-orbiting reliability than the standard that NASA had previously used for itself: reliably de-orbiting 90% of the satellites after their missions are complete. In May 2018, SpaceX expected the total cost of development and buildout of the constellation to approach $10 billion (). In mid-2018, SpaceX reorganized the satellite development division in Redmond and terminated several members of senior management. First launches (2019–2020) After launching two test satellites in February 2018, the first batch of 60 operational Starlink satellites was launched in May 2019. By late 2019, SpaceX was transitioning their satellite efforts from research and development to manufacturing, with the planned first launch of a large group of satellites to orbit, and the clear need to achieve an average launch rate of "44 high-performance, low-cost spacecraft built and launched every month for the next 60 months" to get the 2,200 satellites launched to support their FCC spectrum allocation license assignment. SpaceX said they will meet the deadline of having half the constellation "in orbit within six years of authorization... and the full system in nine years". In October 2020 a wider public beta was launched, where beta testers were charged the full monthly cost and could speak freely about their experience. Starlink beta testers reported speeds over 150 Mbit/s, above the range announced for the public beta test. Commercial service (2021–present) Pre-orders were first opened to the public in the United States and Canada in early 2021. The FCC had earlier awarded SpaceX with $885.5 million worth of federal subsidies to support rural broadband customers in 35 U.S. states through Starlink. but the $885.5 million aid package was revoked in August 2022, with the FCC stating that Starlink "failed to demonstrate" its ability to deliver the promised service. SpaceX later appealed the decision saying they met or surpassed all RDOF deployment requirements that existed during bidding and that the FCC created "new standards that no bidder could meet today". In December 2023, the FCC formally denied SpaceX's appeal since "Starlink had not shown that it was reasonably capable of fulfilling RDOF's requirements to deploy a network of the scope, scale, and size" required to win the subsidy. In March 2021, SpaceX submitted an application to the FCC for mobile variations of their terminal designed for vehicles, vessels and aircraft, and later in June the company applied to the FCC to use mobile Starlink transceivers on launch vehicles flying to Earth orbit, after having previously tested high-altitude low-velocity mobile use on a rocket prototype in May 2021. In 2022, SpaceX announced the Starlink Business service tier, a higher-performance version of the service. It provides a larger high-performance antenna and listed speeds of between 150 and 500 Mbit/s with a cost of $2500 for the antenna and a $500 monthly service fee. Deliveries were advertised to begin in the second quarter of 2022. The FCC also approved the licensing of Starlink services to boats, aircraft, and moving vehicles. Starlink terminal production being delayed by the 2020–2023 global chip shortage led to only 5,000 subscribers for the last two months of 2021 but this was soon resolved. On December 1, 2022, the FCC issued an approval for SpaceX to launch the initial 7500 satellites for its second-generation (Gen2) constellation, in three low-Earth-orbit orbital shells, at 525, 530, and 535 km (326, 329 and 332 miles) altitude. Overall, SpaceX had requested approval for as many as 29,988 Gen2 satellites, with approximately 10,000 in the altitude shells, plus ~20,000 in shells and nearly 500 in shells. However, the FCC noted that this is not a net increase in approved on-orbit satellites for SpaceX since SpaceX is no longer planning to deploy 7518 V-band satellites at altitude that had previously been authorized. In March 2023, the company reported that they were manufacturing six Starlink "v2 mini" satellites per day as well as thousands of user terminals. The v2 mini has Gen2 Starlink satellite features while being assembled in a smaller form factor than the larger Gen2 satellites. The Gen2 satellites require the diameter Starship in order to launch them. The Starlink business unit had a single cash-flow-positive quarter during 2022. In May 2018, SpaceX estimated the total cost of designing, building and deploying the constellation would be at least US$10 billion. In January 2017, SpaceX expected annual revenue from Starlink to reach $12 billion by 2022 and exceed $30 billion by 2025. Starlink was at annual loss in 2021. Revenues from Starlink in 2022 were reportedly $1.4 billion accompanied by a net loss. With a net profit of $72.7 million 2024 would be the first year of profitability for the service as it posted a $30.7 million loss in 2023. The Wall Street Journal reported in October 2024 that Musk had been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other high ranking Russian government officials since late 2022, discussing personal topics, business and geopolitical matters. The Journal reported that Putin had asked Musk to avoid activating his Starlink satellite system over Taiwan, to appease Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping. The communications were reported to be a closely held secret in government, given Musk's involvement in promoting the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump, and his security clearance to access classified government information. One person said no alerts were raised by the U.S. government, noting the dilemma of the government being dependent on Musk's technologies. Musk initially voiced support for Ukraine's defense against Russia's 2022 invasion by donating Starlink terminals, but made later decisions to limit Ukrainian access to Starlink, which coincided with Russian pressure in public and in private. In a November 2024 call with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Musk said he will continue supporting Ukraine through Starlink. SpaceX has asked its numerous Taiwanese suppliers to move production abroad citing geopolitical risk concerns. This move was questioned by the Taiwanese government and resulted in significant anger from the Taiwanese public with citizens pointing out that Starlink was unavailable in Taiwan despite its suppliers underlying the technology and others calling for a boycott of Tesla products. concept In November 2024, SpaceX proposed a constellation of Starlink satellites around Mars, referred to as "Marslink". The proposed system would be capable of providing more than 4 Mbit/s of bandwidth between Earth and Mars as well as imaging services. Starting in July 2024, SpaceX began conducting tests on Starlink in cooperation with the Romanian Ministry of National Defense and National Authority for Communications Administration and Regulation (ANCOM). These tests aim at demonstrating that the Equivalent Power Flux Density (EPFD) limit can be safely increased, thus improving the speed and coverage area of Starlink, without affecting classic, geostationary satellites. The results of these tests will be used to help change a rule set by the International Telecommunication Union in the 1990s regarding the limits of non-geostationary satellites. Starlink was part of an investigation by USAID into the agency's oversight of Starlink terminals provided to the Ukrainian government, when USAID's Inspector General was fired by President Trump and all employees put on administrative leave. The USAID website was scrubbed of all information related to the Starlink probe. In March 2025, the director of the United States Department of Commerce's rural broadband program resigned criticizing undue emphasis on Starlink from the Trump administration. Musk's involvement in politics has also been protested by a number of Starlink customers in the U.K. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) installed a Starlink user terminal at the White House complex which raised conflict of interest concerns. In response the White House said that the terminal was donated by Starlink and approved by legal counsel and the United States Secret Service. After the Trump administration launched a series of tariffs, the State Department pushed countries to approve American satellite companies, including Starlink. Several countries such as India granted regulatory approval to Starlink, hoping that supporting a company owned by Musk would help negotiations to avoid tariffs. Subscribers download speed (in Mbit/s)|thumb|474x474px As of February 2026, Starlink reported the number of its customers worldwide as more than 10 million. == Services ==
Services
Satellite internet Starlink provides satellite-based internet connectivity to underserved areas of the planet, as well as competitively priced service in more urbanized areas. In the United States, Starlink charged, at launch, a one-time hardware fee of $599 for a user terminal and $120 per month for internet service at a fixed service address. An additional $25 per month allows the user terminal to move beyond a fixed location (Starlink For RVs) but with service speeds deprioritized compared to the fixed users in that area. Fixed users are told to expect typical throughput of "50 to 150 Mbit/s and latency from 20 to 40 ms", Sales are capped to a few hundred fixed users per "service cell area" due to limited wireless capacity. Starlink alternatively offers a Best Effort service tier allowing homes in capped areas to receive the current unused bandwidth of their cell while they are on the waiting list for more prioritized service. The price and equipment are the same as the residential service at $110 per month. To improve the service quality in densely populated areas, Starlink introduced a monthly 1 TB data cap for all non-business users which was enforced starting in 2023. In August 2022, SpaceX lowered monthly service costs for users in select countries. For example, users in Brazil and Chile saw monthly fee decreases of about 50%. According to internet analysis company Ookla, Starlink speeds degraded during the first half of 2022 as more customers signed up for the service. SpaceX has said that Starlink speeds will improve as more satellites are deployed. In September 2023, satellite operator SES announced a satellite internet service for cruise lines using both the Starlink satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and SES' own O3b mPOWER satellite constellation in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). Integrated, sold and delivered by SES, the SES Cruise mPOWERED + Starlink service claims to combine the best features of LEO and MEO orbits to provide high-speed, secure connectivity at up to 3 Gbit/s per ship, to cruise ships anywhere in the world. In February 2024, SES announced that Virgin Voyages will be the first cruise line to deploy the service. Satellite cellular service SMS texting via Starlink became publicly available in the U.S. and New Zealand in July 2025, to T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon and One NZ customers. The service is powered by Starlink's Direct to Cell satellites. T-Mobile US and SpaceX are partnering to add satellite cellular service capability to Starlink satellites. It will provide dead-zone cell phone coverage across the USA using the existing midband PCS spectrum owned by T-Mobile. Cell coverage began with text messaging and will expand to include voice and limited data services later. T-Mobile connects to Starlink satellites via existing 4G LTE mobile devices, unlike previous generations of satellite phones, which used specialized radios, modems, and antennas to connect to satellites in higher orbits. Bandwidth will be limited to 2 to 4 megabits per second total, split across a very large cell coverage area, which would be limited to thousands of voice calls or millions of text messages simultaneously in a coverage area. The size of a single coverage cell has not yet been publicly released. The first six cell phone capable satellites launched on January 2, 2024. Also in April 2023, One NZ (formerly Vodafone New Zealand) announced that they would be partnering with SpaceX's Starlink to provide 100% mobile network coverage over New Zealand. SMS text service is expected to begin in 2024, with voice and data functionality in 2025. In July 2023, Optus in Australia announced a similar partnership. On January 8, 2024, it was confirmed by SpaceX that they had successfully tested text messaging using the new Direct-to-Cell capability on T-Mobile's network. On August 12, 2025 Ukrainian cell operator Kyivstar conducted Eastern Europe's first test of the Direct-to-Cell service with their CEO and digital transformation minister of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov exchanging messages with regular smartphones and with commercial start of this service planned for 2025. Starshield In December 2022, SpaceX announced Starshield, a separate Starlink service designed for government entities and military agencies. Starshield enables the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to own or lease Starshield satellites for partners and allies. While Starlink had not been adapted for military use, Starshield has the usual requirements for mobile military systems like encryption and anti-jam capabilities. Starshield satellites are advertised as capable of integrating a wide variety of payloads. Starshield satellites will be compatible with, and interconnect to, the existing commercial Starlink satellites via optical inter-satellite links. In January 2022, SpaceX deployed four national security satellites for the U.S. government on their Transporter-3 rideshare mission. In the same year they launched another group of four U.S. satellites with an on-orbit spare Globalstar FM-15 satellite in June. In September 2023, the Starshield program received its first contract from the U.S. Space Force to provide customized satellite communications for the military. This is under the Space Force's new "Proliferated Low Earth Orbit" program for LEO satellites, where Space Force will allocate up to $900 million worth of contracts over the next 10 years. Although 16 vendors are competing for awards, the SpaceX contract is the only one to have been issued to date. The one-year Starshield contract was awarded on September 1, 2023. The contract is expected to support 54 mission partners across the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard. == Applications ==
Applications
Military meet in April 2019. SpaceX also designs, builds, and launches customized military satellites based on variants of the Starlink satellite bus, with the largest publicly known customer being the Space Development Agency (SDA). SDA accelerates development of missile defense capabilities, primarily via observation platforms, using industry-procured low-cost low Earth orbit satellite platforms. In October 2020, SDA awarded SpaceX an initial $150 million dual-use contract to develop 4 satellites to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles. The first batch of satellites were originally scheduled to launch September 2022 to form part of the Tracking Layer Tranche 0 of the U.S. Space Force's National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA), a network of satellites performing various roles including missile tracking. The launch schedule slipped multiple times but eventually launched in April 2023. In 2020, SpaceX hired retired four-star general Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy who, according to some sources, is associated with Starlink's military satellite development, and according to one source, is listed as a "chief operating officer" at SpaceX. While still on active duty, O'Shaughnessy advocated before the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services for a layered capability with lethal follow-on that incorporates machine learning and artificial intelligence to gather and act upon sensor data quickly. SpaceX was not awarded a contract for the larger Tranche 1, with awards going to York Space Systems, Lockheed Martin Space, and Northrop Grumman Space Systems. Military communications In 2019, tests by the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) demonstrated a 610 Mbit/s data link through Starlink to a Beechcraft C-12 Huron aircraft in flight. Additionally, in late 2019, the United States Air Force successfully tested a connection with Starlink on an AC-130 Gunship. In 2020, the Air Force used Starlink in support of its Advanced Battlefield management system during a live-fire exercise. They demonstrated Starlink connected to a "variety of air and terrestrial assets" including the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker. Expert on battlefield communications Thomas Wellington has argued that Starlink signals, because they use narrow focused beams, are less vulnerable to interference and jamming by the enemy in wartime than satellites flying in higher orbits. In May 2022, Chinese military researchers published an article in a peer-reviewed journal describing a strategy for destroying the Starlink constellation if they threaten national security. The researchers specifically highlight concerns with reported Starlink military capabilities. Musk has declared Starlink is meant for peaceful use and has suggested Starlink could enforce peace by taking strategic initiative. Russian officials including the head of Russia's space agency Dmitry Rogozin, have warned Elon Musk and criticized Starlink, including warning that Starlink could become a legitimate military target in the future. Russo-Ukrainian War , mayor of Kyiv, and his brother Wladimir Klitschko with Starlink terminals shipped to Kyiv during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Starlink was activated during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, after a request from the Ukrainian government. Ukraine's military and government rapidly became dependent on Starlink to maintain Internet access. The service is also notably used for warfare. Starlink is used for connecting combat drones, naval drones, artillery fire coordination systems and attacks on Russian positions. but has kept most of the service online. Its use in attacking Russian targets has been criticized by the Kremlin. Musk has warned that the service was costing $20 million per month, and a Ukrainian official estimated SpaceX's contributions as over $100 million. Three days after the February 28, 2025, meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy in the White House the U.S. suspended all military aid and a day later also intelligence to Ukraine. Gaza war In October 2023 after the Gaza war started, users shared the hashtag #starlinkforgaza on Elon Musk's social network X (formerly Twitter), demanding he activate Starlink in Gaza after Internet service in the region was lost. Musk answered that Starlink connectivity would be provided for aid groups in Gaza. At the end of November, Musk said the Starlink service would only be provided for Gaza with the approval of the government of Israel. Mali War and War in the Sahel According to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, jihadist groups such as the Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin and Islamic State – West Africa Province have been using an illicit supply chain to acquire Starlink devices and bypass regulations on their use. The more secure communication of these devices has made it harder for government forces to intercept the plans of armed groups, allowing them to evade law enforcement and sustain illicit economies. A leader of the Union of Nigeriens for Vigilance and Patriotism, a support group for the Nigerien junta in the Agadez region, noted: In response, the governments of Niger and Chad have moved to legalize Starlink in hopes of better regulating the technology by requiring registration of the devices. However, these measures are unlikely to stop the supply chain. In February 2025, Wired and the BBC reported that Starlink is a key connectivity option for scam centers in Southeast Asia with "criminals running multi-billion-dollar empires across Southeast Asia appear to be widely using the satellite internet network." Wired identified more than one hundred Starlink devices in use at just one center, KK Park in Myanmar. SpaceX announced in October 2025, that access to at least 2,500 Starlink devices used in Myanmar scamming centers was cut off. Iran In Iran, Elon Musk personally announced the activation of Starlink in 2022 after the Iranian government blocked the internet to suppress the spread of anti-government protests, enabling citizens to regain uncensored access. These cases illustrate the difficulty governments face in controlling unauthorized satellite communications within their borders. The decentralized and autonomous nature of Starlink's operations presents a growing challenge to national sovereignty and cybersecurity enforcement. Likewise during the internet blackout amidst the 2025–2026 Iranian protests, Starlink was activated in Iran. However, by 11 January, the Iranian government reportedly shut down Starlink internet connectivity for the first time. The jamming and shut down led to varying degrees of success, with users occasionally being able to circumvent the censorship amidst the security forces also seizing satellite dishes to block any external access. The State Department had given SpaceX sanctions exemption to enable Starlink services in Iran, and NGOs including Holistic Resilience and ASL19 had assisted in smuggling terminals into Iran. The New York Times reported that the Iranian authorities had used GPS spoofing, causing many of the estimated 50,000 Starlink terminals to not operate. Passenger Wi-Fi on aircraft Multiple airlines have begun retrofitting their fleets to include Starlink terminals for in-flight passenger Wi-Fi. On April 25, 2022, Hawaiian Airlines announced an agreement with Starlink to provide free internet access on its aircraft, becoming the first airline to use Starlink. By July 2022, Starlink internet service was available in 36 countries and 41 markets. In September 2024, United Airlines announced it would install Starlink services on the airline's entire fleet, including mainland and regional aircraft, as part of a plan to offer free high-speed Wi-Fi to all passengers. In March 2025, the FAA issued final approval for United to begin equipping its aircraft with Starlink antennas. Qatar Airways began installing Starlink terminals in October 2024. In November 2025, International Airlines Group (IAG) announced it would install Starlink terminals on around 500 aircraft of their fleet (Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, Level and Vueling). British Airways was the first IAG airline to fly with Starlink installed in March 2026. Also in November 2025, Emirates followed, announcing installations on all 230 aircraft of their active fleet. In December 2025, Hanjin Group announced a deal to install Starlink terminals on all aircraft of their fleet, consisting of Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Air Busan, Air Seoul and Jin Air. In January 2026, Lufthansa Group announced Starlink would be installed on all around 850 aircraft of their fleet (including Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways, Swiss International Air Lines, Air Dolomiti, Edelweiss Air, Eurowings, and Discover Airlines). Other airlines who have announced deals with Starlink include Zipair Tokyo in January 2023, Air France in September 2024, WestJet and Air New Zealand in December 2024, airBaltic in February 2025, SAS in May 2025, Virgin Atlantic in July 2025, Alaska Airlines in August 2025, Air Canada in September 2025, FlyDubai in November 2025, Gulf Air in January 2026, and Southwest Airlines in February 2026. Maritime Within the shipping industry, Starlink is recognized as a 'basic welfare for crew members', allowing location-independent access to telecommunications for sailors. Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Glovis, Korea Line, and others. In August 2022, SpaceX secured its first contract for services in the passenger shipping industry. Royal Caribbean Group added Starlink internet to its Freedom of the Seas liner, and planned to offer the service on 50 ships under its Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea Cruises brands by March 2023. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings added the service in 2023. and MSC Cruises added it in 2024. == Internet availability and regulatory approval ==
Internet availability and regulatory approval
In order to offer satellite services in any nation-state, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) regulations and long-standing international treaties require that landing rights be granted by each country jurisdiction, and within a country, by the national communications regulators. As a result, though the Starlink network has near-global reach at latitudes below approximately 60°, broadband services can be provided in 115 countries as of July 2025. SpaceX can also have business operation and economic considerations that may make a difference in which countries Starlink service is offered, in which order, and how soon. For example, SpaceX formally requested authorization for Canada only in June 2020, the Canadian regulatory authority approved it in November 2020, As of September 2022, Starlink services were on offer in 40 countries, with applications pending regulatory approval in many more. Canada was the first outside country to approve the service with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada announcing regulatory approval for the Starlink low Earth orbit satellite constellation on November 6, 2020. In May 2022, Starlink entered the Philippine market, the company's first deployment in Asia, because of a landmark legislative change (RA 11659, Public Services Act) about all-foreign allowance of company ownership in regard to utility entities such as Internet and telco companies. Starlink got provisional permission from the country's Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DICT), National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and soon began commercial services, aimed at regions with lower Internet connectivity. In June 2023, a license to offer Internet services in Zambia was granted to Starlink by the Zambian Government through its Electronic Government Division – SMART Zambia, after the completion of many trial projects throughout the country. In October 2023, Starlink officially went live in Zambia. In July 2023, the Mongolian government issued two licenses to SpaceX to provide Internet access in the country. In July 2023, it was reported by Bloomberg that attempts to sell the service to Taiwan in 2022 fell through when SpaceX insisted on 100% ownership of the Taiwan subsidiary running Starlink in the country. This went against Taiwanese law that required that Internet service providers (ISP) are at least 51% controlled by local companies, an impracticality when dealing with a globe-spanning ISP. Japan's major mobile provider, KDDI, announced a partnership with SpaceX to begin offering in 2022 expanded connectivity for its rural mobile customers via 1,200 remote mobile towers. On April 25, 2022, Hawaiian Airlines announced an agreement with Starlink to provide free Internet access on its aircraft, becoming the first airline to use Starlink. and the Philippines. In the Philippines, commercial availability began on February 22, 2023. In September 2022, trials began at McMurdo Station in Antarctica and from December 2022 on field missions. Antarctica has no ground stations, so polar-orbiting satellites with optical interlinks are used to connect to ground stations in South America, New Zealand, and Australia. In September 2023, the US-based United Against Nuclear Iran started donating subscriptions and terminals to Iranians to allow them to circumvent Iran's Internet blackout. In September 2023, it was reported by some Indian news outlets that Starlink would imminently receive its license to operate in India after Starlink was able to meet all regulatory requirements, but that it would still be required to apply for spectrum allocation in order to provide service. SpaceX had earlier sold 5000 Starlink preorders in India, Three months later, Bhargava resigned "for personal reasons" after the Indian government ordered SpaceX to halt selling preorders for Starlink service until SpaceX gained regulatory approval for providing satellite Internet services in the country. In April 2024, it was reported in some Indian news outlets that Starlink had received its "in-principle government approval" and that the approval now "lies at the desk of communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw". In November 2023, Starlink received the licenses to operate in Fiji. The service was launched in Fiji in May 2024. In April 2024, it was reported that the company would begin trial service in Indonesia in May. Starlink received its license to operate in Indonesia in early May. In May 2024, Starlink service was made available for pre-order in Sri Lanka, pending regulatory approval from the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL). In August 2024, Starlink Lanka (Private) Limited was granted a Telecommunications Service Provider License by TRCSL, allowing it to operate satellite Internet services in the country. However, in March 2025, the government placed the rollout on hold due to concerns over the absence of lawful interception provisions in the license, which were required for national security reasons. By June 2, 2025, the Deputy Minister of Technology confirmed that all regulatory conditions had been fulfilled, including the integration of oversight mechanisms, clearing the way for the launch. Starlink officially launched its services in Sri Lanka on July 2, 2025. In August 2024, Starlink received the licenses to operate in Yemen. Starlink services will soon be implemented through the corporation's sales points distributed across most governorates. These points will provide a full range of services, including device sales, activation, subscription fee payments, and direct technical support. In April 2025, Houthi rebels in Yemen demanded that residents surrender their Starlink devices. In September 2024, United Airlines announced it would install Starlink services on the airline's entire fleet, including mainland and regional aircraft, as part of a plan to offer free high-speed Wi-Fi to all passengers. As of November 2024, Morocco is set to give regulatory approval to Starlink by 2025. On 11 and 12 March 2025, Indian telecom companies Airtel and Jio have partnered with Starlink to bring satellite Internet to India, aiming to improve connectivity in remote areas. However, the service's rollout is dependent on securing necessary government approvals. These partnerships promise to expand broadband access, especially in underserved regions. Although Starlink was officially unavailable in South Africa, it was found in June 2025 that Starlink has been operating unlawfully in South Africa since 2022. It was reported that South Africans have been able to use Starlink's roaming service for nearly two and a half years as a workaround to the lack of official local support. In June 2025 Starlink began notifiying its users of its Roam Unlimited and Global Roaming plans in South Africa that their service had been suspended. Earlier in March 2025, Musk claimed that "Starlink can't get a license to operate in South Africa simply because I'm not black". Musk's claim, which likely references the provisions of the South African Electronic Communications Act, 2005, which require telecom licensees to allocate at least 30% equity ownership to historically disadvantaged groups, has been disputed by officials within the South African government. In February 2026, Starlink received the licences from the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology to operate fixed and mobile satellite networks in Vietnam, through its local unit headquartered in Hanoi. It is expected that Starlink will deploy four ground gateway stations and provide satellite Internet access to up to 600,000 user terminals. Iran In 2022, the U.S. State Department and U.S. Treasury Department updated rules regarding export of technology to Iran, allowing Starlink to be exported to Iran in support of the Iranian protests against compulsory hijab, which had triggered extensive government censorship. Immediately afterwards, Starlink service was activated in Iran. In 2023, the Iranian government filed a complaint with the ITU against SpaceX for unauthorized Starlink operation in Iran. In October 2023 and March 2024, the ITU ruled in favor of Iran, dismissing a SpaceX assertion that it should not be expected to verify the location of every terminal connecting to its satellites. Despite the illegality of Starlink usage in Iran, the number of Starlink users has skyrocketed via sales of the terminals on the black market. Iranian officials have acknowledged that 30,000 terminals in the country, providing access to some 100,000 users. In a cyber-blockade carried out in response to the protests in early 2026, the Iranian authorities used military-grade jammers that largely disrupted the Starlink signal. ==Technology==
Technology
Satellite hardware The internet communication satellites were expected to be smallsats, in mass, and were intended to be in low Earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of approximately , according to early public releases of information in 2015. The first significant deployment of 60 satellites was in May 2019, with each satellite weighing . Initial plans forecasted in January 2015 were for the constellation to be made up of approximately 4,000 cross-linked satellites; more than twice as many operational satellites as were in orbit in January 2015. While specifics of the phased array technologies have been disclosed as part of the frequency application, SpaceX enforced confidentiality regarding details of the optical inter-satellite links. Early satellites were launched without laser links. The inter-satellite laser links were successfully tested in late 2020. The satellites are mass-produced, at a much lower cost per unit of capability than previously existing satellites. Musk said, "We're going to try and do for satellites what we've done for rockets." "In order to revolutionize space, we have to address both satellites and rockets." In February 2015, SpaceX asked the FCC to consider future innovative uses of the Ka-band spectrum before the FCC commits to 5G communications regulations that would create barriers to entry, since SpaceX is a new entrant to the satellite communications market. The SpaceX non-geostationary orbit communications satellite constellation will operate in the high-frequency bands above 24 GHz, "where steerable Earth station transmit antennas would have a wider geographic impact, and significantly lower satellite altitudes magnify the impact of aggregate interference from terrestrial transmissions". Internet traffic via a geostationary satellite has a minimum theoretical round-trip latency of at least 477 milliseconds (ms; between user and ground gateway), but in practice, current satellites have latencies of 600 ms or more. Starlink satellites are orbiting at to of the height of geostationary orbits, and thus offer more practical Earth-to-satellite latencies of around 25 to 35 ms, comparable to existing cable and fiber networks. The system uses a peer-to-peer protocol claimed to be "simpler than IPv6"; it also incorporates native end-to-end encryption. Starlink satellites use Hall-effect thrusters with krypton or argon gas as the reaction mass for orbit raising and station keeping. Krypton Hall thrusters tend to exhibit significantly higher erosion of the flow channel compared to a similar electric propulsion system operated with xenon, but krypton is much more abundant and has a lower market price. SpaceX claims that its 2nd generation thruster using argon has 2.4× the thrust and 1.5× the specific impulse of the krypton fueled thruster. User terminals holding a Starlink user terminal in June 2020 inside the user terminal The Starlink system has multiple modes of connectivity including direct-to-cell capability as well as broadband satellite internet service. Direct-to-cell provides connectivity to unmodified cellular phones and is being offered globally in partnership with various national cellular service providers. Starlink's broadband internet service is accessed via flat user terminals the size of a pizza box, which have phased array antennas and track the satellites. The terminals can be mounted anywhere, as long as they can see the sky. and airplanes. Photographs of the customer antennas were first seen on the internet in June 2020, supporting earlier statements by SpaceX CEO Musk that the terminals would look like a "UFO on a stick. Starlink Terminal has motors to self-adjust optimal angle to view sky". The antenna is known internally as "". In October 2020, SpaceX launched a paid-for beta service in the U.S. called "Better Than Nothing Beta", charging $499 () for a user terminal, with an expected service of "50 to 150 Mbit/s and latency from 20 to 40 ms over the next several months". From January 2021, the paid-for beta service was extended to other continents, starting with the United Kingdom. A larger, high-performance version of the antenna is available for use with the Starlink Business service tier. In August 2022, and in response to an open invitation from SpaceX to have the terminal examined by the security community, security specialist Lennert Wouters presented several technical architecture details about the then-current starlink terminals: the main control unit of the dish is a STMicroelectronics custom designed SoC chip code-named Catson which is a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53-based control processor running the Linux kernel and booted using U-Boot. The main processor uses several other custom chips such as a digital beam former named Shiraz and a front-end module named Pulsarad. The main control unit controls an array of digital beamformers. Each beamformer controls 16 front-end modules. In addition the terminal has a GPS receiver, motor controllers, synchronous clock generation and power over Ethernet circuits, all manufactured by STMicroelectronics. In June 2024, a portable user terminal dubbed "Starlink Mini" was announced to be imminently available. The Mini supports 100 Mbit/s of download speed and will fit in a backpack. Initial rollout was in Latin America at a $200 price point. Ground stations SpaceX has made applications to the FCC for at least 32 ground stations in the United States, and has approvals for five of them (in five states). Until February 2023, Starlink used the Ka-band to connect with ground stations. With the launch of v2 Mini, frequencies were added in the 71–86 GHz W band (or E band waveguide) range. A typical ground station has nine antennas in a fenced in area. According to their filing, SpaceX's ground stations would also be installed on-site at Google data-centers world-wide. Satellite revisions MicroSat MicroSat-1a and MicroSat-1b were originally slated to be launched into circular orbits at approximately 86.4° inclination, and to include panchromatic video imager cameras to film images of Earth and the satellite. The two satellites, "MicroSat-1a" and "MicroSat-1b" were meant to be launched together as secondary payloads on one of the Iridium NEXT flights, but they were instead used for ground-based tests. Tintin At the time of the June 2015 announcement, SpaceX had stated plans to launch the first two demonstration satellites in 2016, SpaceX began flight testing their satellite technologies in 2018 during development but were renamed Tintin A and Tintin B upon orbital deployment on February 22, 2018. The satellites were launched by a Falcon 9 rocket, and they were piggy-back payloads launching with the Paz satellite. Tintin A and B were inserted into a orbit. Per FCC filings, they were intended to raise themselves to a orbit, the operational altitude for Starlink LEO satellites per the earliest regulatory filings, but stayed close to their original orbits. SpaceX announced in November 2018 that they would like to operate an initial shell of about 1600 satellites in the constellation at about orbital altitude, at an altitude similar to the orbits Tintin A and B stayed in. in a high-inclination orbit for a planned six to twelve-month duration. The satellites communicate with three testing ground stations in Washington State and California for short-term experiments of less than ten minutes duration, roughly daily. v0.9 (test) The 60 Starlink v0.9 satellites, launched in May 2019, had the following characteristics: • Altitude of • 95% of "all components of this design will quickly burn in Earth's atmosphere at the end of each satellite's lifecycle". v1.0 (operational) The Starlink v1.0 satellites, initially launched in November 2019, have the following additional characteristics: • 100% of all components of this design will completely demise, or burn up, in Earth's atmosphere at the end of each satellite's life. • Ka-band added • Mass: • One of them, numbered 1130 and called DarkSat, had its albedo reduced using a special coating but the method was abandoned due to thermal issues and IR reflectivity. • All satellites launched since the ninth launch at August 2020 have visors to block sunlight from reflecting from parts of the satellite to reduce its albedo further. v1.5 (operational) The Starlink v1.5 satellites, initially launched January 24, 2021, have the following additional characteristics: • Lasers for inter-satellite communication • Mass: ~ • Visors that blocked sunlight were removed from satellites launched from September 2021 onwards. Starshield (operational) These are satellites buses with two solar arrays derived from Starlink v1.5 and v2.0 for military use and can host classified government or military payloads. v2 (initial deployment) SpaceX was preparing for the production of Starlink v2 satellites by early 2021. According to Musk, Starlink v2 satellites will be "...an order of magnitude better than Starlink 1" in terms of communications bandwidth. SpaceX hoped to begin launching Starlink v2 in 2022. , SpaceX had said publicly that the satellites of second-generation (Gen2) constellation would need to be launched on Starship, as they are too large to fit inside a Falcon 9 fairing. Starlink v2 is both larger and heavier than Starlink v1 satellites. Starlink second-generation satellites planned for launch on Starship were planned, as of 2022, to have the following characteristics: • Mass: ~ • Length: ~ • Further improvements to reduce its brightness, including the use of a dielectric mirror film. Gen2 Starlink satellites will also include an approximately 25 square meter antenna that would allow T-Mobile subscribers to be able to communicate directly via satellite through their regular mobile devices. In May 2023, SpaceX introduced two more form factors with direct-to-cellular (DtC) capability. In August 2025, Starlink tested a "mini laser" to allow connectivity for third party satellites and space stations with the Starlink constellation. The bus design for Starlink satellites has varied considerably since the first units were deployed in space in 2019: • Bus F9-1, mass, having roughly the same dimensions and mass as V1.5 satellites. Deployed in Group 5 (see constellation design section). • Bus F9-2 (typically called "v2 mini"), They are smaller than Starlink's original ones (and so can be launched on Falcon 9) and have four times the capacity to the ground station to increase speed and capacity. This is due to a more efficient array of antennas and the use of radio frequencies in the W band (E band waveguide) range. • Bus F9-3, F9-2 with direct-to-cellular capability. The bus length was increased to . Mass increased to . ==Launches==
Launches
Between February 2018 and May 2024, SpaceX successfully launched over 6,000 Starlink satellites into orbit, including prototypes and satellites that later failed or were de-orbited before entering operational service. The deployment of the first 1,440 satellites was planned in 72 orbital planes of 20 satellites each, with a requested lower minimum elevation angle of beams to improve reception: 25° rather than the 40° of the other two orbital shells. Starlink satellites are also planned to launch on Starship, an under-development rocket of SpaceX with a much larger payload capability. The initial announcement included plans to launch 400 Starlink (version 1.0) satellites at a time. Current plans now call for Starship to be the only launch vehicle to be used to launch the much larger Starlink version 2.0. Constellation design and status In March 2017, SpaceX filed plans with the FCC to field a second orbital shell of more than 7,500 "V-band satellites in non-geosynchronous orbits to provide communications services" in an electromagnetic spectrum that has not previously been heavily employed for commercial communications services. Called the "Very-low Earth orbit (VLEO) constellation", By 2022, SpaceX had withdrawn plans to field the 7,518-satellite V-band system, superseding it with a more comprehensive design for a second-generation (Gen2) Starlink network. however, the V-band plans were subsequently withdrawn by 2022. orbital altitude. These satellites would effectively operate in a third orbital shell, a orbit, while the higher and lower orbits at approximately and approximately would be used only later, once a considerably larger deployment of satellites becomes possible in the later years of the deployment process. The FCC approved the request in April 2019, giving approval to place nearly 12,000 satellites in three orbital shells: initially approximately 1,600 in a – altitude shell, and subsequently placing approximately 2,800 Ku- and Ka-band spectrum satellites at and approximately 7,500 V-band satellites at . In total, nearly 12,000 satellites were planned to be deployed, with (as of 2019) a possible later extension to 42,000. In February 2019, a sister company of SpaceX, SpaceX Services Incorporated, filed a request with the FCC to receive a license for the operation of up to a million fixed satellite Earth stations that would communicate with its non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite Starlink system. In June 2019, SpaceX applied to the FCC for a license to test up to 270 ground terminals – 70 nationwide across the United States and 200 in Washington state at SpaceX employee homes – and aircraft-borne antenna operation from four distributed United States airfields; as well as five ground-to-ground test locations. On October 15, 2019, the United States FCC submitted filings to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on SpaceX's behalf to arrange spectrum for 30,000 additional Starlink satellites to supplement the 12,000 Starlink satellites already approved by the FCC. In January 2026 SpaceX announced plans to lower approximately 4,400 satellites from their current 550 km orbit to 480 km over the course of the year, citing improved space safety and reduced orbital decay time for decommissioned satellites. First generation The chart below contains all v0.9 and first generation satellites (Tintin A and Tintin B, as test satellites, are not included). Early designs had all phase 1 satellites in altitudes of around . SpaceX initially requested to lower the first 1584 satellites, and in April 2020 requested to lower all other higher satellite orbits to about . In April 2020, SpaceX modified the architecture of the Starlink network. SpaceX submitted an application to the FCC proposing to operate more satellites in lower orbits in the first phase than the FCC previously authorized. The first phase will still include 1,440 satellites in the first shell orbiting at in planes inclined 53.0°, SpaceX also applied in the United States for use of the E-band in their constellation The FCC approved the application in April 2021. On January 24, 2021 SpaceX released a new group of 10 Starlink satellites, the first Starlink satellites in polar / SSO orbits. The launch surpassed ISRO's record of launching the most satellites in one mission (143), taking to 1,025 the cumulative number of satellites deployed for Starlink to that date. On February 3, 2022, 49 satellites were launched as Starlink Group 4–7. A G2-rated geomagnetic storm occurred on February 4, caused the atmosphere to warm and density at the low deployment altitudes to increase. Predictions were that up to 40 of the 49 satellites might be lost due to drag. After the event, 38 satellites reentered the atmosphere by February 12 while the remaining 11 were able to raise their orbits and avoid loss due to the storm. In March 2023, SpaceX submitted an application to add V-band payload to the second generation satellites rather than fly phase 2 V-band satellites as originally planned and authorized. The request is subject to FCC approval. Second generation Falcon 9 Due to delays with Starship development, SpaceX modified the v2 Starlink satellites into a less capable but more compact form factor named "v2 mini", thus enabling these satellites to be launched on Falcon 9. The first set of 21 of these satellites was launched on February 27, 2023. SpaceX committed to reducing debris by keeping the Starlink tension rods, which hold the v2 mini-satellites together during launch, attached to the Falcon 9 second stage. These tension rods were discarded into orbit while launching earlier versions of Starlink satellites. Observations confirm that v2 mini satellites host two solar panels, like the larger v2 satellites. Starship As of October 2025, SpaceX has conducted multiple tests of the Starlink deployment system on Starship. Up to 10 Starlink "simulators" were carried as payload on each test flight starting with Flight 7, expected to be deployed on a sub-orbital trajectory, set to reenter over the Indian Ocean.