SpaceX is looking to connect its satellite internet service, Starlink, to moving vehicles, ships and aircraft, according to a new filing with the Federal Communications Commission.
The aerospace company’s application, filed on Friday, seeks a “blanket license authorizing operation” of Starlink user terminals, known as Earth Stations in Motion (ESIM). The new application is much broader than SpaceX’s previously requested authorization from the FCC. Last year, the company sought to conduct experimental testing for a period of up to two years on five user terminals mounted to a private Gulfstream jet and 10 terminals on up to 10 vessels, including two autonomous spaceport drone ships used to land rocket boosters at sea.
SpaceX’s ESIMs are “electrically identical to its previously authorized consumer user terminals” but have mountings that allow them to be installed on vehicles, vessels and aircraft. The new terminals will communicate with SpaceX satellites that are visible on the horizon above a minimum elevation angle of 25 degrees. Unlike Starlink’s current user terminals, which are installed by the customer, the ESIMs will be set up by “qualified installers.”
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The filing adds that the application “would serve the public interest by authorizing a new class of ground-based components for SpaceX’s satellite system that will expand the range of broadband capabilities available to moving vehicles throughout the United States and to moving vessels and aircraft worldwide,” SpaceX director of satellite policy David Goldman wrote.