SpaceX Prepares For Air Force Starlink Satellite Internet Test

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing to further test its Starlink satellite internet in a demonstration for the US Air Force, the company revealed in a recent request to the Federal Communications Commission.

“SpaceX is looking to make minor changes to its experimental clearance for additional testing activity undertaken with the federal government,” the company wrote to the FCC in a filing Thursday.

“The tests are designed to demonstrate the ability to transmit and receive information from (1) two fixed ground sites and (2) an aircraft in flight at one location, and would add to these (3) limited tests of a vehicle moving on the ground, ”SpaceX said.

Starlink is the company’s capital-intensive project to build an interconnected Internet network with thousands of satellites, known in the space industry as a constellation, designed to provide high-speed Internet access to consumers all over the planet.

SpaceX revealed that for this test it was working with Ball Aerospace, a defense and space contractor, which will provide the antennas needed to connect Starlink satellites to an aircraft.

SpaceX noted that Ball specifically manufactures “compliant antennas for tactical aircraft” – that is, military jets.

Musk’s company also noted that the Starlink test was under the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI) program, for which Ball was awarded a contract for 9.7. million dollars in August. SpaceX pointed out that the FCC had previously cleared experimental Starlink tests, including previous Air Force tests dating back to early 2018.

“The Commission previously granted SpaceX experimental clearance for activities undertaken with the federal government to demonstrate SpaceX’s capability [non-geostationary orbit] system to transmit and receive information between two fixed ground sites and airborne earth stations aboard moving aircraft, ”the company said in its filing with the FCC.

SpaceX, Ball Aerospace and the Air Force Research Lab did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.

The Air Force experiment will begin with ground tests near SpaceX’s Starlink manufacturing facilities in Redmond, Washington. Then, the test will move to Edwards Air Force Base in California, for a “ground-to-air scenario”.

“An antenna terminal will be integrated on an aircraft. SpaceX designs a custom installation kit consisting of mechanical plates for low profile antennas and a shroud to reduce wind drag to limit the impact on the air. ‘plane for this facility, “SpaceX said in the FCC filing.

Although SpaceX has not identified a target timeline for the tests, the company said it “expects the tests to take four to six months.”