Let There Be Broadband: SpaceX Lights Up Starlink in US National Radio Quiet Zone
The quiet zone exists to prevent disruptions to radio telescopes in Virginia and West Virginia, but SpaceX is now steering satellite beams away from the radio telescopes as they pass overhead.
SpaceX's Starlink is now rolling out to thousands of residents living in the "National Radio Quiet Zone" in Virginia and West Virginia, where wireless signals are restricted.
The access arrives following a three-year effort between SpaceX and US scientists to prevent Starlink from disrupting local radio telescopes, which is why the quiet zone exists.
"Based on these results, SpaceX will begin a one-year assessment period to offer residential satellite internet service to 99.5% of residents within the NRQZ starting October 25,” the Green Bank Observatory said on Friday.
The radio quiet zone around the observatory restricts cellular and Wi-Fi signals, although many residents do have Wi-Fi and fiber-based broadband.
The quiet zone is needed to help radio telescopes detect the faintest signals from deep space. SpaceX has refrained from beaming Starlink internet to the area because the radio signals from its satellites could disrupt or even damage the “eye” of the radio telescopes.
In August, SpaceX said it was ready to start rolling out Starlink access to users in the radio quiet zones around the Green Bank Observatory and another telescope in New Mexico. To prevent interference, the company developed a system that can quickly steer satellite beams away from the radio telescopes as they pass overhead.
AST SpaceMobile: SpaceX Is a Bully, Uses Anticompetitive Tactics
AST SpaceMobile urges the FCC to reject 'incendiary rhetoric' from SpaceX, which wants to increase radio emission limits for its cellular Starlink tech.
AST SpaceMobile is criticizing SpaceX for allegedly using "anticompetitive" tactics to try and override concerns about its cellular Starlink system for phones.
"Ironically, SpaceX's own attempt to intimidate and bully its competitors, regulators, and cellular operators is itself anti-competitive and an effort to deflect technical shortcomings of its own system,” AST SpaceMobile tells the Federal Communications Commission.
The startup is hitting back after SpaceX sent a letter to the FCC earlier this month, accusing AST SpaceMobile of spreading misinformation meant to “hamstring” its work on the direct-to-cell Starlink system. SpaceX also derided AST SpaceMobile as “meme stock” driven by investors and foreign partners.
In response, AST SpaceMobile sent its own letter to the FCC on Thursday, calling out SpaceX for allegedly trying to “manufacture a controversy.”
“SpaceX has resorted to hurling unfounded accusations at AST SpaceMobile, a company capable of delivering space-based cellular broadband [device-to-device] connectivity to every American,” the company told the FCC. “AST SpaceMobile respectfully requests that SpaceX refrain from making further inflammatory statements to distract from key MNO [mobile network operator] concerns.”