US military signs on to start testing Elon Musk's StarLink communications network

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By Matthew Griffin Connected Society 18th June 2020

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Only around half the planet has what can be termed good connectivity, and now for the rest there’s Elon Musk’s StarLink network.

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Recently SpaceX began launching its Starlink network – the satellite constellation that it ultimately wants to use to help connect everyone on the planet to high speed internet. Now, the company has announced they’ve signed an agreement with the US Army, who often have to operate in remote parts of the world where connectivity is at best shockingly bad, to evaluate the network. The R&D agreement, as first reported by SpaceNews, is a fairly standard agreement ahead of any actual commercial procurement deal for the US military, but it’s significant nonetheless.

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SpaceX’s Starlink network, which is still in development and which is set to go live for select customers in the US and Canada later this year, according to the company, aims to provide low-latency, high-speed internet connectivity globally using Low Earth Orbit (LEO) small satellites. Its network is designed specifically to address the needs of customers located in hard-to-reach and underserved areas, with network connectivity that the company hopes will be better and more reliable than existing satellite based connections, which rely on geostationary satellites located much farther away from Earth.

The Army will be looking at finding out what kind of investment it needs to make in ground-station infrastructure and integrating SpaceX’s network connectivity with its existing systems, SpaceNews reports. Provided there are no big showstoppers there, SpaceX’s solution could address a lot of the challenges the military faces with connectivity no matter where they’re operating. Obviously, they don’t always find themselves working in places with high population density and easily accessible ground-network infrastructure.

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There are other ways in which Starlink’s operating model doesn’t fit with the Army’s needs, including its reliance on ground stations, which may or may not be accessible to the Army in whatever operating theatre they happen to currently be in. Still, it’s very possible that Starlink could meet the needs of some of its operations and not others, but provide big improvements in those areas where it does work.

Starlink launches are set to continue at a regular pace throughout the year as SpaceX continues to build out its 12,000 strong satellite network, and needless to say the more satellites that SpaceX has on orbit the greater its geographic reach, and the less likely its network is to encounter interruptions in service, since each satellite hands off the connection from one to another as they orbit the Earth.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Matthew Griffin, multi-award winning Futurist and named Futurist of the Year 2024, has been described as a "Walking encyclopaedia of the future" by NASA and a futurist polymath. One of the world's most renowned futurists and strategic foresight experts Matthew is the 15 times author of the blockbuster "Codex of the Future" series, and is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working across the next 50 years, XPotential University, the world's first free futures and foresight university, and the World Futures Forum which works with the United Nations to solve the worlds greatest challenges. Matthew is an in demand international keynote, acclaimed university lecturer and mentor, and host of the hit Fanatical Futurist podcast.

A rare talent in his past Matthew helped build and run several multi-billion dollar business units for Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, and his ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77+ governments, and many of the world's most respected brands including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Disney, Dow, EY, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, and many others. He was also the only futurist invited to talk at the UN COP28 held in Dubai alongside world leaders.

Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.