SpaceX is growing a next-generation gateway station to spice up Starlink speeds after securing approval to improve the satellite tv for pc web service with gigabit connectivity.
On Tuesday, the corporate filed an utility with the Federal Communications Fee a couple of new ground-based gateway station, known as “First of Its Title,” an obvious Recreation of Thrones reference.
SpaceX routinely submits regulatory filings to authorize new gateway websites. They’re greatest identified for utilizing spherical dome antennas to beam high-speed information to orbiting Starlink satellites, which then relay it to customers. The corporate already has greater than 100 gateway stations throughout the US. However they’ve normally been designed to transmit information over a swath of radio spectrum within the Ka and E bands, in response to previous SpaceX filings.
(Credit score: Starlink)
The First of Its Title gateway stands out as a result of it’ll harness much more radio spectrum within the “Ka-, V-, E-, and W-bands”—which the FCC greenlit in January as a part of SpaceX’s proposal to improve Starlink with gigabit speeds. The appliance calls out permission to make use of the 18.6-18.8GHz, 19.4-19.6GHz, and 29.1-29.5GHz spectrum, together with varied greater bands within the V- and W-bands.
“This utility takes the subsequent step by in search of authority for one in all SpaceX’s next-generation quad-band gateway earth stations that can join these satellite tv for pc methods to the terrestrial web,” the corporate wrote, noting it is concentrating on “fiber-like speeds.”
The gateway station will nonetheless use 40 antennas for quad-band entry, however every can be a 1.99-meter parabolic dish, barely bigger than the 1.85-meter dishes used on the firm’s different gateway services.
SpaceX provides: “This permits the gateway web site to hook up with as many unbiased NGSO [non-geostationary] satellites as potential at any given on the spot in time, delivering greater information transmission charges and improved buyer connectivity to fulfill the rising shopper demand for high-speed, low-latency satellite tv for pc broadband and ubiquitous cell communications.”
The appliance additionally contains particular coordinates indicating the gateway can be situated at SpaceX’s Starlink manufacturing unit in Bastrop, Texas, as famous by Tim Belfall, a director at UK-based Starlink installer Westend WiFi.
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(Credit score: Google Maps)
It is unclear when the quad-band antennas will roll out to different stations. However within the submitting, SpaceX famous if the FCC grants the authorization to make use of the 18.6-18.8GHz band for the gateway web site, it’ll “enable SpaceX to effectively improve its present {hardware} to make productive use of the 18.6-18.8GHz band for customers, because the fee has already approved SpaceX to make use of adjoining frequencies above and beneath 18.6-18.8GHz.”
The corporate’s fundamental driver for unleashing gigabit speeds is launching next-generation V3 satellites utilizing the upcoming Starship automobile. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has talked about that mass deployment of V3 satellites may begin in This autumn, however it would rely on progress with Starship, which is slated for one more take a look at flight subsequent month.
Within the meantime, SpaceX provides, “Granting this utility will promote the general public curiosity by enhancing the protection, high quality, reliability, and sustainability of SpaceX’s upgraded Gen1 and Gen2 methods for American customers with out inflicting important interference issues.” The corporate is asking permission to make use of the gateway for each mounted and cell satellite tv for pc companies.
About Our Skilled
Michael Kan
Principal Reporter
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I have been a journalist for over 15 years. I obtained my begin as a faculties and cities reporter in Kansas Metropolis and joined PCMag in 2017, the place I cowl satellite tv for pc web companies, cybersecurity, PC {hardware}, and extra. I am presently based mostly in San Francisco, however beforehand spent over 5 years in China, protecting the nation’s know-how sector.
Since 2020, I’ve coated the launch and explosive development of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite tv for pc web service, writing 600+ tales on availability and have launches, but in addition the regulatory battles over the enlargement of satellite tv for pc constellations, fights with rival suppliers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the hassle to develop into satellite-based cell service. I’ve combed by FCC filings for the newest information and pushed to distant corners of California to check Starlink’s mobile service.
I additionally cowl cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC pressured Avast to pay customers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and promoting their private info to third-party shoppers, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.
I additionally cowl the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in entrance of a Finest Purchase to get an RTX 3000. I am now following how the AI-driven reminiscence scarcity is impacting the whole shopper electronics market. I am all the time desperate to be taught extra, so please soar within the feedback with suggestions and ship me suggestions.
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