Hofeller's comments make it sound like interconnects are a lot further away than I had thought. It sounds like they are still doing basic development and working out whether it's even feasible.
Quote from: Tulse on 07/24/2020 04:09 pmHofeller's comments make it sound like interconnects are a lot further away than I had thought. It sounds like they are still doing basic development and working out whether it's even feasible.I didn't read the comments in the article that way.Saying they "have to make sure it's cost effective" implies to me that they know they can do it and that they're now focusing on cost reduction. The fact that he uses the word "aggressively" means that they are focusing on it as a high priority. That doesn't sound like something they don't think is feasible. That sound like something they are confident is feasible and they're now putting lots of effort into doing.
Quote from: ChrisWilson68 on 07/24/2020 04:25 pmQuote from: Tulse on 07/24/2020 04:09 pmHofeller's comments make it sound like interconnects are a lot further away than I had thought. It sounds like they are still doing basic development and working out whether it's even feasible.I didn't read the comments in the article that way.Saying they "have to make sure it's cost effective" implies to me that they know they can do it and that they're now focusing on cost reduction. The fact that he uses the word "aggressively" means that they are focusing on it as a high priority. That doesn't sound like something they don't think is feasible. That sound like something they are confident is feasible and they're now putting lots of effort into doing.I agree, it sounds like something that they can do but for more $ than they want. They'll get there. They are essential to a global footprint, they need this.I'm waiting to hear about some test satellites to be included in a launch.We are in v1.0 still. Who knows what version we will be in a few years from now and how many are being built and deployed using Starship.
Quote from: wannamoonbase on 07/24/2020 05:13 pmQuote from: ChrisWilson68 on 07/24/2020 04:25 pmQuote from: Tulse on 07/24/2020 04:09 pmHofeller's comments make it sound like interconnects are a lot further away than I had thought. It sounds like they are still doing basic development and working out whether it's even feasible.I didn't read the comments in the article that way.Saying they "have to make sure it's cost effective" implies to me that they know they can do it and that they're now focusing on cost reduction. The fact that he uses the word "aggressively" means that they are focusing on it as a high priority. That doesn't sound like something they don't think is feasible. That sound like something they are confident is feasible and they're now putting lots of effort into doing.I agree, it sounds like something that they can do but for more $ than they want. They'll get there. They are essential to a global footprint, they need this.I'm waiting to hear about some test satellites to be included in a launch.We are in v1.0 still. Who knows what version we will be in a few years from now and how many are being built and deployed using Starship.I think it was the reasons why Starlink mng team was reshuffled in 2018. Basically they wanted to delay the launches until the interlinks were ready, Elon however pushed for launching asap even if lacking features.
Quote from: savantu on 07/24/2020 07:26 pmQuote from: wannamoonbase on 07/24/2020 05:13 pmI agree, it sounds like something that they can do but for more $ than they want. They'll get there. They are essential to a global footprint, they need this.I'm waiting to hear about some test satellites to be included in a launch.We are in v1.0 still. Who knows what version we will be in a few years from now and how many are being built and deployed using Starship.I think it was the reasons why Starlink mng team was reshuffled in 2018. Basically they wanted to delay the launches until the interlinks were ready, Elon however pushed for launching asap even if lacking features.Do you have info on this or are you speculating?Phil
Quote from: wannamoonbase on 07/24/2020 05:13 pmI agree, it sounds like something that they can do but for more $ than they want. They'll get there. They are essential to a global footprint, they need this.I'm waiting to hear about some test satellites to be included in a launch.We are in v1.0 still. Who knows what version we will be in a few years from now and how many are being built and deployed using Starship.I think it was the reasons why Starlink mng team was reshuffled in 2018. Basically they wanted to delay the launches until the interlinks were ready, Elon however pushed for launching asap even if lacking features.
I agree, it sounds like something that they can do but for more $ than they want. They'll get there. They are essential to a global footprint, they need this.I'm waiting to hear about some test satellites to be included in a launch.We are in v1.0 still. Who knows what version we will be in a few years from now and how many are being built and deployed using Starship.
Citation? From what I remember of the time the word was they just wanted to do a couple more prototype test satellites and Musk wanted to start launching and iterate on the go.
Quote from: Mandella on 07/25/2020 02:01 amCitation? From what I remember of the time the word was they just wanted to do a couple more prototype test satellites and Musk wanted to start launching and iterate on the go.When a person says "I think", it is speculation.
Quote from: Roy_H on 07/27/2020 04:22 pmQuote from: Mandella on 07/25/2020 02:01 amCitation? From what I remember of the time the word was they just wanted to do a couple more prototype test satellites and Musk wanted to start launching and iterate on the go.When a person says "I think", it is speculation. People are allowed to think without it being pure guesswork. Some actually have reasons for what they believe.
ISLs don't just allow increase in revenue but decrease in costs as you don't need as many ground stations or interconnection fees.But I do suspect significant increase in revenue. With ISLs, you can now serve customers far away from any ground stations.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 07/28/2020 02:19 amISLs don't just allow increase in revenue but decrease in costs as you don't need as many ground stations or interconnection fees.But I do suspect significant increase in revenue. With ISLs, you can now serve customers far away from any ground stations.Especially since their primary customer wants truly global coverage, and putting together that ground station network would be a LOT of work.
Quote from: Confusador on 07/28/2020 01:05 pmQuote from: Robotbeat on 07/28/2020 02:19 amISLs don't just allow increase in revenue but decrease in costs as you don't need as many ground stations or interconnection fees.But I do suspect significant increase in revenue. With ISLs, you can now serve customers far away from any ground stations.Especially since their primary customer wants truly global coverage, and putting together that ground station network would be a LOT of work.Their primary customer is consumers and businesses. The US govt will be a minority of Starlink business, even if they appear to be somewhat of an early anchor customer.I know it’s hard to imagine, but consumers and businesses have a LOT more money to spend on this than the US DoD does. The DoD has like a couple billion at most to spend on stuff like Starlink. Comcast’s revenue was >$100 billion last year.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 07/28/2020 01:10 pmQuote from: Confusador on 07/28/2020 01:05 pmQuote from: Robotbeat on 07/28/2020 02:19 amISLs don't just allow increase in revenue but decrease in costs as you don't need as many ground stations or interconnection fees.But I do suspect significant increase in revenue. With ISLs, you can now serve customers far away from any ground stations.Especially since their primary customer wants truly global coverage, and putting together that ground station network would be a LOT of work.Their primary customer is consumers and businesses. The US govt will be a minority of Starlink business, even if they appear to be somewhat of an early anchor customer.I know it’s hard to imagine, but consumers and businesses have a LOT more money to spend on this than the US DoD does. The DoD has like a couple billion at most to spend on stuff like Starlink. Comcast’s revenue was >$100 billion last year.Those consumers and businesses are clustered in cities where Starlink's value proposition is a lot lower. Don't overestimate how much of Comcast's business they're going to capture in the next decade.
Quote from: Confusador on 07/28/2020 01:15 pmQuote from: Robotbeat on 07/28/2020 01:10 pmQuote from: Confusador on 07/28/2020 01:05 pmQuote from: Robotbeat on 07/28/2020 02:19 amISLs don't just allow increase in revenue but decrease in costs as you don't need as many ground stations or interconnection fees.But I do suspect significant increase in revenue. With ISLs, you can now serve customers far away from any ground stations.Especially since their primary customer wants truly global coverage, and putting together that ground station network would be a LOT of work.Their primary customer is consumers and businesses. The US govt will be a minority of Starlink business, even if they appear to be somewhat of an early anchor customer.I know it’s hard to imagine, but consumers and businesses have a LOT more money to spend on this than the US DoD does. The DoD has like a couple billion at most to spend on stuff like Starlink. Comcast’s revenue was >$100 billion last year.Those consumers and businesses are clustered in cities where Starlink's value proposition is a lot lower. Don't overestimate how much of Comcast's business they're going to capture in the next decade.I’m not. Just pointing out the scale of consumer and business spending is FAR greater than military spending. That’s the real nut.Keep in mind Comcast is just one business among several... there’s AT&T (market cap $209B), Verizon (market cap $235B), and foreign telecoms. Starlink can compete with all of them (altho at first only with their fixed, non-mobile services) to the extent that their constellation has enough capacity. Maybe they can get 5-10% in cities, but a lot more in rural areas. And not just in the US but globally.The US military’s telecoms budget is small potatoes and does not drive SpaceX/Starlink’s valuation except as a risk-reducing anchor customer.