Starlink Mini promotional image.
SpaceX customer email sent June 19, 2024.
SpaceX is rolling out a compact version of its Starlink antennas, which the corporate is promoting as a mobile option for its satellite web customers.
“Starlink Mini is a compact, portable kit that may easily slot in a backpack, designed to supply high-speed, low-latency web on the go,” in line with a customer email sent by SpaceX on Wednesday and viewed by CNBC.
The corporate is offering a “limited number” of the Starlink Mini antennas for $599 each in an early access release. That is $100 greater than the bottom model “Standard” antenna sold with its Residential service, although the corporate aspires to cut back the worth tag.
“Our goal is to cut back the worth of Starlink, especially for those all over the world where connectivity has been unaffordable or completely unavailable,” SpaceX wrote in the e-mail.
Starlink Mini promotional image.
SpaceX customer email sent June 19, 2024.
Along with the upfront hardware cost, service for a Starlink Mini is effectively $150 monthly — as SpaceX is offering the service for a Mini as a further $30 monthly bundle on top of a $120 monthly Residential service. The “Mini Roam” service “will be used anywhere in america” but has a cap of fifty gigabytes of knowledge monthly, with Starlink charging $1 per gigabyte for added data.
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The Starlink Mini antenna is concerning the size and weight of a laptop, at just over two kilos and measuring at about 12 inches by 10 inches by 1.5 inches. It’s roughly half the scale and one-third the burden of Starlink’s Standard antenna.
SpaceX’s email said Starlink Mini comes with a built-in WiFi router and “lower power consumption” than its other antennas, yet it still boasts download speeds of over 100 megabits per second.
The e-mail didn’t specify when Starlink Mini deliveries would begin. In a post on social media, Vice President of Starlink Engineering Michael Nicolls said the corporate is “ramping production” on Starlink Mini and that it “will likely be available in international markets soon.”
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote in a post Monday that establishing a Starlink Mini took lower than five minutes.
“This product will change the world,” Musk declared.
SpaceX has steadily expanded its Starlink network and product offerings since debuting the service in 2020. There are about 6,000 Starlink satellites in orbit that connect greater than 3 million customers in 100 countries, in line with the corporate. SpaceX initially targeted consumer customers, but has expanded into other markets — including national security, enterprise, mobility, maritime and aviation — and disrupted the present satellite communications sector.
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