In 2019 one of the rockets of SpacexThe Falcon 9brought the first 60 satellites of Starlink. What is it about? Starlink is the first satellite constellation in the world with the aim of bringing the Internet to any corner of the earth directly from the sky, with one connection to Large band for private individuals and businesses. It is part of the aerospace company of Elon Musk, Spacexand in 6 years he sent more than 7,000 satellites into orbit, of which About 6,000 are currently in operation. To provide stable connection everywhere in the world, the goal is to reach up to 12,000 units. Let’s see how this technology works and what are the pros and cons.
What is Starlink: the technology of satellites in low orbit
There is a fundamental element that makes this technology possible: the fact that the satellites are relatively very close to the surface. In fact they are called Leo, that is, Low Earth Orbit – with low terrestrial orbit – because they orbit about 500 km from the earthwhile, those of the weather or GPS, which are called geostationariesthat is, which rotate together with the earth, they are found to one distance of about 35,000 km from the surface. And why is this this thing so important? Because to have a stable connection, you have to receive and send data in a short time, in fractions of second: I do a search and the result immediately comes out. Having the satellites close, this exchange of data can take place quickly – in technical jargon it is said that the latency is low. This means that the connection is able to support in a stable way, for example, Streaming, online gaming and video calls.

To achieve the goal of bringing the Internet to every corner of the planet equally important is the number of satellites. In fact, there is a need for a dense network of satellites around the planet, to ensure total and stable coverage, so that any user in any part of the planet can connect to Starlink satellites and then access the Internet.
Small parenthesis, if at night it happens to you to see in the sky a series of bright dots that move in line, they could be satellites just launched. In fact, in the hours following the launch they are easily visible to the naked eye, because they fly less than 300 km from the ground, and then reach their established orbit of about 500 km.
How the satellite internet of Starlink works
Compared to the traditional connection, the transmission does not take place via cable, but through radio signals. Starlink is available in numerous regions of the world, including most of theEurope, Italy included, And those who use a Starlink connection receives a home router and a antenna. When you access the Internet, your device (computer, smartphone, etc.) Send a request to the router. The router transmits the request to the antenna, which in turn sends it to space. From space the satellite sends the signal to a land station that sorts the request to the servers where data are archived. Recovering the data, then they take the reverse route, going back to the satellite until you return to the device that made the request. All this obviously happens in fractions of second.
The signal is only if the satellites manage to reach one of these stations on earth. So what happens if I find myself in the middle of the ocean? Starlink has already found the solution to this limit: since 2021 it has been replacing the old satellites with satellites more at the forefront capable of communicating together through them optical laser. So if a satellite is too far from a land station, the request to other satellites passes up to the one closest to one of these stations.

Pros and cons: speed, price and comparison with fiber
The speed does not reach the performance of the optical fiberwhich provides an average connection of 1000 Mbps. Starlink has a download speed between The 25 and 220 Mbpswith an average of 100 Mbpshowever, guarantees one coverage also in remote areas of the planet. And we still talk about a connection that for domestic use is however very efficient, since it is a connection to broadband and with one latency between 25 and 60 ms. To subscribe to Starlink, you need to buy the kit composed of router and antenna, which costs € 349, and choose between the two subscription plans of 29 or 40 €.
Among the cons certainly it is less stable than fiberbecause they are subject to weather conditions. Even if technology in this sense is constantly updated. Another controversial point: however, considering that the era of satellite mega-surfers have just begun, we still do not know what environmental impact will have. After 5 years of use, the satellites are returned to the atmosphere, where they disintegrate Due to the friction with the air. In this phase they produce aluminum oxidewhich could cause damage to the ozone layer that protects us from solar radiation. It is a matter to keep an eye on, especially when the satellite numbers will grow, to understand if the release of these substances is actually dangerous.
Many satellites in no time: how did they do it?
Being Starlink part of Spacex, the same company produces both the satellites and the rockets that transport them, reducing costs to a minimum. Another thing, with the creation of reusable rockets such as Falcon 9, capable of return to the ground after the launchSpacex saves up to tens of millions of dollars per launch, because it uses the same rocket for multiple missions.

And then the satellites are produced at reduced costs and in a short time because they are very small: They are 2.8 meters long and 1.4 wide, for a weight of about 260 kg. For this one rocket can launch up to 60 satellites together. Then when they arrive in orbit, the solar panel that feeds them opens, reaching a width of 8 meters.
Although it is unlikely that the satellite internet will come to replace the optical fiber completely, with recent technological progress it is increasingly becoming a competitive option and in fact also Amazon, with Kuiper, or the European Union, with Iris²they are developing alternatives to Starlink.