It has been less than a week since SpaceX released 'Starlink Maritime' service to provide high-speed satellite internet aboard sea-going vessels and the company is quickly attracting customers. On Friday, July 8, Silent Yachts, a company that operates electric yachts, announced it will integrate Starlink to their solar-powered vessels. Silent Yachts was founded by Heike and Michael Köhle, who created a cleaner way to propel yachts with batteries that are recharged by solar panels on the vehicles' roof. "By partnering with SpaceX - the US-based company designing reusable rockets and spacecrafts founded by Elon Musk - we are becoming the first serial yacht producer in the world to install the Maritime Version of Starlink on board of our solar electric catamarans!" said the company via Twitter.
☀️ By partnering with @SpaceX - the US-based company designing reusable rockets and spacecrafts founded by @elonmusk - we are becoming the first serial yacht producer in the world to install the Maritime Version of Starlink on board of our solar electric catamarans! #Starlink pic.twitter.com/P2YWPLjVry
— SILENT-YACHTS (@Silent_Yachts) July 8, 2022
Starlink Maritime is designed to provide "high-speed, low-latency internet with up to 350 Mbps [Megabits per second] download while at sea." The Starlink user terminal for maritime coverage costs $10,000 USD for a set of 2 "high performance terminals." The monthly internet service cost is $5,000 USD per month, according to the company's Starlink.com website.
Silent Yachts is now SpaceX’s second major customer to integrate Starlink on sea-going vessels. Royal Caribbean, the world's second largest cruise ship operator, started providing SpaceX’s Starlink internet to passengers around a week ago. With maritime coverage already available in the most remote seas globally, SpaceX is also ready to provide Internet to airplanes. Hawaii Airlines and JSX charter flights already have contracts to provide Starlink Wi-Fi to passengers while flying. Delta Airlines is expected to also provide Starlink to passengers. According to Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian, the commercial airline company is in discussions with SpaceX representatives who are collaborating to conduct “exploratory testing” of the internet technology.
Since 2019, SpaceX has launched around 2,750 Starlink satellites to Low Earth Orbit that provide high-speed internet to over 500,000 subscribers living across 36 countries. The company plans to launch at least 12,000 internet-beaming satellites to orbit in the next five years. It launches satellites almost on a weekly basis to rapidly expand the network.
Featured Image Source: Silent Yachats website silent-yachts.com
About the Author
Evelyn Janeidy Arevalo
Evelyn J. Arevalo joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover news as a Space Journalist and SpaceX Starbase Texas Correspondent. Evelyn is specialized in rocketry and space exploration. The main topics she covers are SpaceX and NASA.
