SpaceX to start testing an early version of its Starlink satellite internet service with a small number of users this summer
- SpaceX has sent an email to beta testers asking them for a specific location
- This is to determine if they fall within the restricted Starlink available locations
- It is expected the beta test will only be available in the Northern US and Canada
- This is because 540 of the minimum 800 satellites needed for launch are live
A small number of people who expressed an interest in trying the SpaceX Starlink broadband service are expected to be given access this summer.
The Elon Musk-owned space firm has been launching a constellation of broadband providing devices since 2019 and now has 540 satellites in low Earth orbit.
Until now users in the US and Canada wanting to sign up for Starlink broadband were asked to provide a zip or post code - but now they are asked for an address.
This is so SpaceX can determine whether those interested in the service will be within the coverage area of the satellites already put into orbit.
It is thought users in the Northern United States and lower parts of Canada will be the first to have access once at least 600 satellites have been launched.
SpaceX is set to send its tenth batch June 26, but forecasts show the Falcon 9 has just a 40 percent chance of taking off from Kennedy Space Center
In an email to people who registered interest in the service, SpaceX said a private beta will begin this summer with select users and a public test will launch later.
The firm estimates it will need at least 800 satellites to offer a full service, but will have 600 in orbit later this year providing broadband to selected areas.
The company are currently going through the 'regulatory' process that includes applying for a telecom licence in Canada allowing it to provide commercial services.
SpaceX plans to launch at least 2,200 satellites over the next five years in order to offer a global broadband service covering even the most remote areas of the world.
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They have accelerated efforts over the past month, sending dozens of Starlinks to orbit every week to create its global internet network.
The firm says it hopes to be able to start offering a basic internet service when it has a constellation of at least 800 satellites - likely to happen later this year.
The beta is expected to open up in later this summer or in early Autumn.
'Private beta testing is expected to begin later this summer, followed by public beta testing, starting with higher latitudes,' SpaceX said in an email.
If approved, beta testers will be sent a kit by SpaceX that will include a dish and a router that has already been given FCC approval.
SpaceX has been experimenting with ways to make the craft less visible from Earth, and the Jun 4 batch included one experimental craft with an inbuilt sun visor CEO Elon Musk said in April: ‘We have a radio-transparent foam that will deploy nearly upon the satellite being released, and it blocks the sun from reaching the antennas'
The firm has warned connectivity will be intermittent while it builds up its constellation to minimum capacity but the system will be free for testers.
Poor weather conditions postponed SpaceX's tenth launch of Starlink satellites into orbit for the second time earlier in July but the firm is still on target.
The launch of these satellites would have brought SpaceX's Starlink constellation to very nearly 600 total spacecraft in low-Earth orbit.
This is now expected to happen later this summer with the rest of the 800 'pre-launch' satellites put into low Earth orbit later in the year.
SpaceX has permission to put 12,000 LEO satellites into space for its Starlink constellation but has asked for permission to put up to 30,000 into orbit.
This would be for a second generation system not yet announced or confirmed.
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