Hacker News Reader

Comment by Metus | Hacker News Reader

As an amateur, that follows SpaceX from a distance, what makes the W-band so interesting?

The first satellite to fly W Band was in 2021. It supports much higher data rates but has atmospheric attenuation issues. This would be the first commercial use of it. It's possible SpaceX is using this to reduce downlink bottlenecks.

https://web.archive.org/web/20231012142827/https://re.public...

https://connectivity.esa.int/news/first-wband-transmission-s...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W_band

It also has a history of active military use, especially for detecting weapons.

Excellent callout. Might be a component of Starshield. Hard to say until the RF is active in the wild or FCC filings are public (is it possible SpaceX is filing in Tonga to sidestep FCC public filings on the tech?). Would be wild if this system will be able to provide global airspace radar surveillance to the US DoD with high precision.

https://www.space.com/spacex-starshield-satellite-internet-m...

https://www.spacex.com/starshield/

I'm a fellow amateur, but I would say it allows higher bandwidth than X-band. It's a higher frequency range, shorter wavelength.

Edit: it might be worse for signal propagation through the atmosphere though...

https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Techn...

Probably a bit like 2.4 GHz vs 5GHz WiFi.

The "passive radar" resolution on the WiFi frequencies isn't good enough anymore; the shorter wavelengths will allow imaging of individual cells.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com