(Anton Melnyk via Getty)
SpaceX has secured regulatory approval to operate Starlink dishes with an even wider field of view to help maintain connections with orbiting satellites for longer periods.
The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday granted SpaceX’s request, which was filed last month, for the Starlink dish antennas, including the current Starlink Mini, the second-generation dish, and the original first-generation model.
The change addresses the authorized "minimum elevation angle" for Starlink antennas. The dishes are designed to face upward toward the sky to receive signals from satellites circling overhead. But under SpaceX’s previous approvals, the dishes can only receive a Starlink signal until a minimum of 25 degrees above the horizon.
(Credit: SpaceX/FCC)The company set the limit to prevent radio interference, particularly with other satellites. But in October 2024, SpaceX requested to lower the minimum elevation angle as part of its proposal to deliver gigabit speeds to Starlink, which the FCC largely greenlit in January. The same FCC order also gave the company permission to orbit 15,000 satellites as low as 340km.
At the time, SpaceX requested to lower the minimum elevation angle to “10 degrees for satellites operating below 400 km altitude and to 20 degrees for satellites operating between 400 and 500 km altitude.”
“Reducing the minimum elevation angle in this way will improve network latency and performance by allowing satellites to connect to more earth stations directly and to maintain connections with these earth stations for a longer period of time while flying overhead,” the company told the FCC. This also suggests that more Starlink satellites will be able to start communicating sooner or stop later.
(Credit: Starlink.com)Last month, SpaceX formally filed several applications to modify the Starlink dish models with the lower elevation angles for Ku-band operations (10.7-12.7GHz, 14.0-14.5GHz), which the FCC has now approved in seven grants. Interestingly, the grant for the current standard Starlink dish and Mini says SpaceX can lower the minimum elevation angle to 5 degrees for "all user terminals located at or above 62 degrees north latitude," which would apply to northern Canada and much of Alaska.
The company hasn't elaborated on the enhancement. But the FCC has been trying to boost satellite internet performance by revamping decades-old rules.
SpaceX's filings also suggest that existing Starlink dish models will be able to benefit, but only when more Starlink satellites reach lower orbits. For now, it appears that a majority of Starlink satellites operate at 400-500km; the company has been moving thousands of satellites to the 480km orbit. To deliver gigabit speeds, SpaceX plans to deploy thousands of next-generation V3 satellites, which will presumably fill orbits at 300km.
That said, a Starlink dish might not receive a signal at lower elevation angles if trees or buildings block the signal. An astrophotographer told us that a Starlink satellite usually takes about 8 minutes to cross from east to west at 10 degrees above the horizon.
(Credit: Starlink.com)