Witnessing a conga line of dozens of bright satellites marching through the night sky has surprised — and occasionally unsettled — many around the world in recent years. And as much as the sight of SpaceX's Starlink satellites passing overhead might mystify the unacquainted, exactly how they work remains a riddle to many of those who already know about the ambitious project.
The Starlink constellation, which is intended to provide high-speed internet to underserved rural areas, depends on a huge network of interlinked satellites. For the past several years, every couple weeks or so, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has blasted off and carried a new batch of some 60 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit. As those desk-sized satellites travel to their final positions, they brightly reflect light,
irking many skygazers.
As of June 2021, there are over 1,500 Starlink active satellites, making Starlink the largest satellite constellation around Earth. In fact, SpaceX now owns more than half of all active satellites circling our planet. Ultimately, Elon Musk plans for Starlink to consist of many thousands — or even tens of thousands — of satellites, providing the entire globe with high-speed, low-latency internet.
Despite the attention received by SpaceX’s Starship and Crew Dragon capsule launches, Starlink has quietly become the company’s most frequently launched project. Musk frequently talks about putting humans on Mars, yet it’s clear that Starlink is a top priority — even if only to fund Musk's multi-planetary goals. Leaked documents show that by 2025, SpaceX expects to earn five times as much revenue from Starlink as it does from all other launches combined.
That potential cash is igniting a commercial space race to build the satellite-based internet that many think is the future. Companies like Amazon and OneWeb are working on their own satellite internet constellations, known as megaconstellations, too. Even China has plans for a Starlink-like project in the coming years.
So, how do satellite megaconstellations like Starlink work? And why do they need so many darn satellites?