One of the biggest problems in the Lahaina wildfire disaster was the inability to communicate that cut the whole west side of Maui off from the rest of the island and the rest of the world after the recent wildfire disaster. A disaster relief team from the Mainland brought in STARLINK units which saved the day for many. How does it work?
In: 0
Starlink is a satellite based internet system.
Whereas traditionally you would have a cable running out of your house that routes through telephone lines or underground conduits all the way back to your ISP, Starlink operates by having a network of satellites that can communicate wirelessly with each other, as well as with users satellite dishes, and with ground stations that have that physical link back to an ISP.
While systems like this have existed for things like TV broadcast for years, Starlink uses fast-orbiting satellites that are only about 500km up. This means that the dishes need to track multiple satellites and hand-off from one to another.
As long as you can see *a* satellite, the signal can eventually route to a satellite with ground station access, even if it’s hundreds of kilometers away. This provides internet connectivity, even in very disconnected regions (either due to remoteness or due to natural disasters)
Latest Answers