SpaceX has asked the FCC for permission to use a Starlink Internet antenna installed on Starship Serial Number 15 (SN15).
The first in a planned group of four or more upgraded Starship prototypes, SN15, was rolled a mile further last week from SpaceX’s South Texas factory to its suborbital launch site. Around the same time that the rear tank section was presided over for the nose installation on April 3, some of the first 360-degree views of the rocket revealed an unusual porthole-like addition just above the Starship’s front tank dome. Already from Starhopper in 2019, Starships has used the space between tank and nose wire as an installation point for, among other things, aviation, Tesla batteries and a number of radio and GPS antennas.
The new hardware usually fell under the radar, but most who took note assumed it was some kind of antenna upgrade. It turns out that the speculation was almost certainly correct – but not in the way most expected.
When the new SN15 antenna first appeared, the author speculated that it had a striking resemblance to a SpaceX Starlink dish. However, another forum user argued that it was probably an upgraded S-band antenna similar to the one used on SpaceX’s Falcon rockets. The author later remarked that the S-band antenna throughput at the scene of Falcon boosters was almost the same as the new antenna and cover visible on Starship SN15, and apparently closed the case.
Nine days later, SpaceX asked the FCC for permission to operate a Starlink dish (user terminal) in Boca Chica “at altitudes not exceeding 12.5 km” during operations “on the ground or during test flights.” In other words, the antenna installed on Starship SN15 is virtually a Starlink dish. Surrounded by an aerodynamic casing, the antenna is securely attached to the rocket and will rely solely on the latest phased array beamforming to electronically ‘transmit’ to both transmit and receive from one or more of nearly a thousand Starlink satellites that currently in a job.
At the request of SpaceX’s FCC Special Temporary Authority (STA), the company curiously requested that the 60-day trial period begin on April 20. Even if the FCC moves very quickly and grants the STA within a few days to a week after SpaceX’s request on April 9, it is unlikely that the company will delay Starship SN15 testing or plans by nearly ten days to wait for permission to use the new rocket. Starlink antenna. In other words, although SN15 is the first Starship to install a Starlink antenna, chances are it will not be the first to test that capability – either on the ground or during a launch.
While unlikely, the fact that SpaceX’s Starship SN15 Starlink antenna installation is almost identical to Falcon 9’s reliable but much more basic S-band setup also leaves the question of whether success on Starship test flights may ultimately lead to the addition of Starlink dishes on future Falcon boosters. Regardless, Starship SN15 is on course to embark on a busy week of qualifying tests in South Texas. If the rocket experiences significant delays, as was the norm for Starship prototypes, there is a good chance that SN15 could start testing its Starlink dish by the middle of next week.