A network wrapped around the planet
More than ten thousand satellites circle the Earth at about 500 km up, a little less than the distance from Los Angeles to San Francisco. They talk to each other with lasers and bring internet to ships, planes and towns no cable ever reached.
Every dot is a satellite
Pick two cities and watch your connection travel: up to the nearest satellite, from satellite to satellite by laser, and down at the destination.
Orbits with the real inclinations of Starlink’s first generation (53°, 70° and 97.6°) ↗, not today’s exact positions. Simplified route; in practice ground stations are involved too.
Why is closer faster?
Light is incredibly fast, but not infinite: about 300,000 km per second. When you use satellite internet, the signal goes up to the satellite, down to a ground station, and the reply makes the same trip back: four legs. Classic internet satellites sit at almost 36,000 km; Starlink’s, at about 500.
Minimum time, from distance alone (satellite straight overhead). In practice Starlink is around 25 to 35 milliseconds because of processing and the ground path; a geostationary satellite, 600 or more. ↗
Low orbit: about 70 times closer than a geostationary satellite. In 2026 SpaceX is lowering thousands of them from 550 to 480 km. ↗
Each satellite circles the Earth about 15 times a day.
About 7.6 km every second, so it doesn’t fall.
In a vacuum, light travels ~47% faster than inside an optical fiber.
The flat dish is aimed once, by hand, and then steers its beam electronically to follow the satellites. ↗
At the end they lower themselves with their thrusters and burn up on entering the atmosphere. ↗
active in August 2026: about three quarters of all satellites that can maneuver. ↗
in June 2026, in about 160 countries and territories. ↗
Internet in every corner of the planet
The plan: a fast connection in the countryside, at sea or on a plane, and in the end straight to the phone you already own. Here is where each piece stands:
- Internet at home and on the moveOperational
- Laser links between satellitesOperational
- Text messages to ordinary phonesOperational
- V3 satellites, launched by StarshipFirst in orbit
Approximate status as of October 2026; things may have moved on. The first 26 V3 satellites reached orbit on Starship’s Flight 14, in September 2026. ↗