News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on SpaceX working on fix for Starlink satellites so they don’t disrupt astronomy. Parent comment

Re:SpaceX working on fix for Starlink satellites so they don... by SamReidHughes on Sunday December 08, 2019 @02:06PM (#21737548)
I was a bit wrong in my initial estimate. More satellites can't improve latency by much once they get dense enough, and it looks like Starlink has enough such that the altitude would be on the same scale as distance. Still doesn't matter for the typical home user. Like, I get 21 ms ping to servers in my local city.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX working on fix for Starlink satellites so they don... by nordsieck on Sunday December 08, 2019 @02:31PM (#21737698)
> Still doesn't matter for the typical home user.

One very important market they're going after is global arbitrageurs.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX working on fix for Starlink satellites so they don... by sneak on Sunday December 08, 2019 @07:12PM (#21739447)
The funny part is that by providing low latency service to them, they are (hopefully) going to be able to fund SpaceX longer to build rockets to get human colonies off-planet.

It’s almost like a Gibson or Stephenson novel.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX working on fix for Starlink satellites so they don... by calabin on Monday December 09, 2019 @05:17AM (#21741546)
Do you have any evidence of this? I work in algorithmic trading/finance and I'm relatively certain that this isn't true.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX working on fix for Starlink satellites so they don... by nordsieck on Monday December 09, 2019 @06:24PM (#21747802)
> Do you have any evidence of this?

My only evidence is a very basic evaluation of their publicly stated capabilities.

> I work in algorithmic trading/finance and I'm relatively certain that this isn't true.

It sounds like you have a much better informed opinion than I do.

With my limited knowledge, I see no reason why SpaceX wouldn't aggressively go after that market, but like I said, my knowledge is limited.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX working on fix for Starlink satellites so they don... by DuskStar on Sunday December 08, 2019 @06:28PM (#21739211)
> Still doesn't matter for the typical home user.

550km vs 1,150km might not matter, but it matters a ton vs 40,000km. Even without the bandwidth limits, I wouldn't be able to use geostationary internet for my normal usage.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX working on fix for Starlink satellites so they don... by CrazyStat on Sunday December 08, 2019 @09:59PM (#21740075)
Starlink has been LEO since it was first announced, so how bad geostationary internet may be is not relevant to the discussion about why SpaceX lowered the altitude.
[ Parent | on HN ]