It’s only been six months since Starlink received US regulatory approval for a gigabit speed upgrade, but SpaceX is already developing a next-generation Starlink constellation meant to be far larger, at 100,000 satellites, and offer even faster speeds.
On Monday, the company filed an application with the FCC for the “Gen 3” constellation, dwarfing the current Starlink system, which consists of around 10,000 satellites. The Gen 3 constellation goes beyond gigabit speeds, with the goal of offering “ultra low-latency, multi-gigabit broadband service to orders of magnitude more users around the world,” SpaceX says.
But it also stands out for seeking to supply high-speed satellite broadband not only to consumers, enterprises, and governments, but also to “billions of AI-powered devices around the world,” a document in the application says. "The Gen3 system will provide the communications backbone of the AI age," SpaceX writes.
“AI requires massive uplink capacity to support high-definition spatial and auditory data necessary for real-time decision-making and industrial automation,” the application adds. “Without it, the United States cannot compete in the AI revolution.”
"While downlink capacity will remain essential to deliver broadband to end users, the rapid rise of real-time communications and audiovisual data processing for AI-enabled devices—including industrial automation, precision agriculture, telemedicine, and personal robotics—will also require a significant expansion of end-user uplink capacity," the company adds.
Hence, the Gen 3 system appears to be tied to SpaceX’s proposal to launch an orbiting data-center constellation that could span up to a staggering 1 million satellites. Those orbiting data centers would use optical lasers to connect with Starlink to route data to users below. Currently, the FCC is reviewing the proposal, which has drawn widespread opposition from concerned groups, including astronomers and environmentalists.
We also wonder if the Gen 3 Starlink constellation might involve SpaceX’s rumored smartphone-like device built to leverage AI, which the company has been secretly showing to investors. That said, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has called reports of the device’s development “utterly false.”
In the meantime, SpaceX’s application says the Gen 3 system will meet AI capacity needs by harnessing a swath of radio spectrum for which Starlink has already received regulatory approval in the Ku-, Ka-, V-, and E-bands. However, SpaceX also wants to pioneer tapping into the “W- and D-band frequencies between 92 and 275 GHz” to drastically improve backhaul capacity.
In addition, SpaceX wants to orbit the satellite as low as 323 kilometers from the Earth’s surface; its approval for the gigabit upgrades allows for orbits as low as 340km. The company explains: “By deploying these satellites at very low altitudes, the Gen3 system will achieve unprecedented satellite diversity—ensuring multiple satellites are always visible from any point on Earth.”
For now, SpaceX has regulatory authority to launch and operate up to 19,400 satellites across the second-gen and first-gen Starlink constellations, a clearance granted years earlier. Later this year, the company plans on launching the first V3 satellites with gigabit connectivity. However, it looks like 20,000 satellites isn’t enough; the company wants to operate even more, explaining, “with dozens of satellites visible from any location, the Gen3 system can dynamically route traffic, avoid interference, and maintain continuous high-quality service even as spectrum use intensifies globally.” Currently, Starlink has over 12 million active customers.
SpaceX is urging the FCC to greenlight the Gen 3 constellation, saying it’ll ensure the US leads in “space, spectrum, robotics, and artificial intelligence for years to come by providing the capacity, coverage, and service quality necessary to connect billions of devices to real-time, AI-powered tools, including constellations of advanced AI satellites.”
Currently, Starlink offers median speeds of around 120 Mbps or higher in the US. But the resulting Gen 3 system could make Starlink an even faster alternative to ground-based fiber, if it can pull off the multi-gigabit performance. Still, we wouldn’t be surprised if the Gen 3 constellation faces resistance from astronomers and environmentalists over potential light pollution and atmospheric effects. Like the existing satellites, each Gen 3 satellite has been designed to operate for five years. To retire them, SpaceX will de-orbit the satellites by sending them to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.