SpaceX prepares for Air Force test of Starlink satellite internet

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing to further test its Starlink satellite internet at a demonstration for the U.S. Air Force, the company revealed in a recent petition to the Federal Communications Commission.

“SpaceX is attempting to make minor changes to its experimental authorization for additional testing activities undertaken with the federal government,” the company wrote in an application to the FCC on Thursday.

“The tests are intended to demonstrate the ability to send and receive information to (1) two stationary ground locations and (2) an airplane in the air at one location, and would complement these (3) limited tests of a moving vehicle on the ground, ”said SpaceX.

Starlink is the company’s capital-intensive project to build an interconnected Internet network of thousands of satellites, known in the space industry as a constellation, designed to deliver high-speed Internet to consumers around the world.

SpaceX announced that it is partnering with Ball Aerospace, a defense and space contractor, for this test, which will provide the antennas needed to connect Starlink satellites to an aircraft.

SpaceX noted that Ball specifically manufactures “conformal tactical aircraft antennas” – meaning military jet fighters.

Musk’s company also noted that the Starlink test is part of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI) program, for which Ball was awarded a $ 9.7 million contract in August. SpaceX emphasized that the FCC has previously authorized experimental Starlink testing, including previous Air Force testing dating back to early 2018.

The Commission has previously granted SpaceX an experimental authorization for activities undertaken with the federal government to demonstrate SpaceX’s capability [non-geostationary orbit] system to send and receive information between both fixed locations on the ground and ground stations in the air aboard moving aircraft, ”the company said in its filing with the FCC.

SpaceX, Ball Aerospace and the Air Force Research Laboratory did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.

The air force experiment begins with ground testing near SpaceX’s Starlink manufacturing facilities in Redmond, Washington. After that, the test will be moved to Edwards Air Force Base, California, for a “surface-to-air scenario”.

“An antenna terminal will be integrated into one aircraft. SpaceX is designing a custom installation kit consisting of mechanical plates for the low-profile antennas and a fairing to reduce drag to limit the impact on the aircraft for this installation,” said SpaceX. said in the FCC filing.

While SpaceX has not established an intended timeline for testing, the company said it “expects testing to take four to six months.”