Starlink expands to 4 new markets in 5 days
Active since 2019, the satellite internet constellation operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX-owned subsidiary Starlink now consists of more than 7,000 small satellites that have been placed in low Earth orbit. While the smallest ones weigh around 500 pounds, the largest one exceeds 2,700 pounds. The services became available to select invitees at the end of October 2020, more than five years after the public announcement that took place in early 2015, when the SpaceX satellite development facility had begun operating in Redmond, Washington. The full commercial service began in early 2021, starting with the US and Canada.
Today, over four million people benefit from Starlink's services, which cover over 100 countries. The latest four to join the list were added starting on Monday. They are Armenia, Nauru, Timor-Leste, and Cape Verde.
According to the official Starlink coverage map, the list of markets that will be added next year includes Serbia, Montenegro, Turkey, Tunisia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Bolivia, and Cambodia. On the other hand, the list of territories with an unknown date of release for Starlink includes popular tourist destinations such as Egypt, Thailand, and Taiwan, among several others. In the US, the median download speed for Starlink customers peaked above 100 Mbps quite a while ago and is now struggling to get back up, currently sitting around 80 Mbps.
Those who want to know more about Starlink can currently grab The Science Behind Starlink and How It Actually Works: A Comprehensive Analysis of Elon Musk’s Vision for a World Without Internet Boundaries off Amazon for $7.99 in Kindle format (47% discount). The paperback edition, on the other hand, is available for the list price of $14.99.
