Starship Is Finally Hauling Starlink's Big New Satellites
On September 28, SpaceX's Starship reached orbit for the first time and put 26 of the new V3 Starlink satellites into space. Starlink made contact with all 26, and they're expected to start serving customers within weeks. This came after a July test flight that deployed 20 V3s on a short practice trajectory, where they burned up as planned.
Why does that matter here in East Texas? Each V3 handles about 10 times the download capacity and 22 times the upload capacity of the satellites most of us are on now. They're too big for the Falcon 9 rocket that built the network, so Starship had to work before any of this could happen. A full Starship can carry 60 of them, which is about 20 times what a Falcon 9 launch adds. SpaceX says it expects to launch V3s in real volume through the end of this year and all of 2027.
My thoughts: more capacity is the long-term answer to the slowdowns and demand surcharges some of my customers are running into. It won't fix things overnight, though. One flight is a start, and the next Starship doesn't even have a date yet. I'm watching it closely, and I'll let you know when I start seeing a real difference on the installs I do.
-TD
Mat 6:33
References
- Light Reading: Starship reaches orbit, releases 26 high-capacity V3 Starlink satellites
- CNBC: SpaceX launches its massive Starship rocket into orbit for the first time
- Space.com: Watch SpaceX's Starship megarocket deploy satellites into orbit for 1st time ever
- Spaceflight Now: Starlink growth and V3 rollout plans
- What Starlink speeds actually mean
- Why Starlink hit my account with a surprise fee
