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Starting at noon PT / 3PM ET on Saturday, a group of SpaceX engineers working on the Starlink satellite project will be answering Reddit questions about its Better than Nothing Beta program. The Starlink program’s ultimate goal is to provide global internet coverage from space, and SpaceX launched the public beta test last month, after introducing a private beta over the summer.
Beta users had to purchase all Starlink ground equipment for $ 499 and then pay a $ 99 monthly fee for active service to participate in the program. An email to public beta invitees said users could “expect to see data speeds vary from 50 Mb / s to 150 Mb / s and latency from 20 ms to 40 ms over the next few months as we improve the Starlink system. “. The email also indicated that there would be short periods of no connectivity and that latency and data rates would improve as the company prepares to launch more satellites and install more ground equipment.
SpaceX has already launched 900 of the 12,000 planned satellites needed for the Starlink system into low Earth orbit. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the company needs 800 satellites in space to provide “significant operational capabilities”.
To ask Starlink engineers questions (and there’s already a queue with more than 500 comments), head to the official Starlink Reddit page. The AMA runs from noon to 1pm PST.
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