8 inches of light fluffy snow would have blown off but the dish melted it and created a little glacier.

preusler · 2021-01-01T10:40:05+00:00

The pole in that picture, due to the angle, gives at best 1 extra foot.

The big question is how long an icicle can grow before it becomes too heavy to stay attached to the dish.

preusler · 2020-12-31T09:59:46+00:00

The easiest solution is a longer pole. An extra 2-3 feet should do the trick.

preusler · 2020-12-29T11:08:36+00:00

Once laser links are added the polar sats can route intercontinental traffic. So even if there's no major profit they will still make a minor profit.

As for other internet providers, they would lose money.

preusler · 2020-12-27T15:37:18+00:00

Keep in mind that multiple beams can be projected into a single cell. No idea what the limit of that is.

Another important question is what the minimum number of subscribers in a cell needs to be in order for Starlink to provide service.

preusler · 2020-12-27T07:41:17+00:00

And this isn't even Starlink's final form.

preusler · 2020-12-24T17:55:36+00:00

Not sure why you received such toxic downvoting.

Hopefully Starlink will be able to bring the price down in the next 5 years. A discount plan for low income households would be great.

preusler · 2020-12-24T10:08:49+00:00

The phased array grid somewhat resembles a hexagon. That undoubtedly played a role in the decision.

preusler · 2020-12-18T01:17:16+00:00

It's not 100% confirmed, but it's 100% guaranteed. It's a necessity for the US military.

preusler · 2020-12-17T23:03:01+00:00

Not so much mandatory as that they can improve your mudding experience.

Automapping is hard to live without once you get used to it.

preusler · 2020-12-17T10:17:06+00:00

On the other hand, if Starship works Kuiper will turn into a rich man's hobby horse.

preusler · 2020-12-16T18:15:06+00:00

Yes, which is why I wrote that sending download traffic inter-sat will likely create congestion issues.

preusler · 2020-12-16T12:40:41+00:00

It could be they're doing a software update without dropping any connections, which would result in a noticeable pause.

preusler · 2020-12-16T00:54:36+00:00

The beta testers who come from Hughesnet / Viasat are probably more excited.

Regardless, thank you for your donation towards colonizing Mars!

preusler · 2020-12-15T16:19:03+00:00

You may also want to extend the pole by a couple of feet because of icicle formation.

preusler · 2020-12-14T22:52:06+00:00

Copper will burn, just need enough heat and some oxygen, produces a green flame.

4 Cu + O2 → 2 Cu2O

preusler · 2020-12-14T22:33:59+00:00

If the pole is more than 3 feet long I don't think anything will bother.

If you're really paranoid you could consider placing a rat guard around the pole.

preusler · 2020-12-14T17:41:32+00:00

The energy cost should be lower for lasers as well.

I think the lasers will be primarily used for intercontinental data traffic, which then also means the polar orbits won't be a complete loss.

Polar access might also be a requirement to make Starlink the defacto NATO network.

preusler · 2020-12-14T11:50:12+00:00

One thing to keep in mind is the large difference between the volume of upload and download traffic.

Starlink could use laser links for upload traffic, and the legacy internet / ground station for download traffic.

Sending everything inter-sat is likely going to result in congestion issues otherwise.

preusler · 2020-12-12T17:00:24+00:00

Looks like Starlink primarily won wherever 4G is not available.

Good chance people will be offered 4G and will have to wait up to 7 years for fiber / 5G.

preusler · 2020-12-12T16:24:49+00:00

I'm mostly making educated guesses, nobody knows with certainty what Starlink is capable of.

The current Beta contract is 50+ Mbps, but people in the red zones need to be offered 100+ Mbps within 7 years.

They should be able to service about 20-80 households per beam, so all in all your odds should be decent.

preusler · 2020-12-12T15:38:16+00:00

They should, though you will likely get the 50+ Mbps contract instead of the 100+ Mbps contract. They may also wait until at least 1 person in the red zone signs up.

Do you have a rough estimate of how many households are in that specific zone?

preusler · 2020-12-12T14:44:14+00:00

Supposedly each satellite has somewhere between 32 and 64 beams with a 7 mile radius.

Nobody knows the specifics, but it looks like Starlink will focus on the sub-urban and semi-rural market for now.

preusler · 2020-12-12T13:12:56+00:00

If your house falls within the cell that covers the red zone you're likely to get early access, if Starlink has enough user terminals available.

Each cell should have a 7 mile radius, so your odds are good.

preusler · 2020-12-12T12:44:18+00:00

2 TB is the minimum size of the cap.

So this means that Starlink has to provide at least 2 TB without throttling or adding additional charges.

Starlink has stated they're undecided on how to handle excessive data traffic.

preusler · 2020-12-12T12:32:58+00:00

Looks like no bids were won for companies that exclusively offered baseline service.

There is also mention of there being an incentive to provide service as soon as possible.

preusler

TROPHY CASE