SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell said at the LEO Digital Forum that Starlink will be able to serve every household in rural America within five years — an estimate of about 20 million households. “We’re doing those analyses for other countries as well. Our focus initially is the U.S. because [customers] speak English and they’re close.”
Shotwell confirmed roughly 1,320 version 1.0 Starlink satellites currently on orbit, weighing 260 kg each. Version 1.0 satellites do not have inter-satellite links, but SpaceX is targeting ISLs on its Polar Orbit satellites. Starlink is projecting continuous global coverage after 28 Starlink launches.
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On the user terminal, Shotwell said the cost is down to less than $1,500 and a second version shaved $200 off the cost. SpaceX subsidizes the terminal to $500 for customers: “We do see our terminals coming in a few hundred-dollar range within the next year or two.” SpaceX doesn’t plan for tiered pricing in order to keep pricing transparent.
Shotwell was candid about beta-phase work remaining: “We still have a lot of work to do to make the network reliable. We still have drops, not necessarily just because of where the satellites are in the sky. We’ll move off beta when we have a really great product that we are very proud of.” VS
