Waiting for Faster Starlink? Musk Shares Ambitious Timeline for Next-Gen Satellites

Elon Musk's predictions don't always age well, but that isn't stopping him from claiming that SpaceX will launch the first next-generation “V3” Starlink satellites within six to nine months.  

Musk posted the timeline when talking about his ongoing effort to reduce Starlink latency to under 20 milliseconds. "With the version 3 Starlink satellites, which start launching on Starship in 6 to 9 months, we should be able to get latency below 20ms,” Musk tweeted.

That's an ambitious timeline since SpaceX plans on launching the V3 satellites using its Starship vehicle. It remains in the testing phases and has yet to complete a successful space mission. 

Some of Musk's Starlink predictions have also been off in the past. In 2023, the SpaceX CEO said, “I think there’s a good chance we start deploying Starlink V3 satellites next year," meaning 2024. 

Still, if the company can meet its goal, then Starlink subscribers can expect faster speeds and better latency in the coming months and years. SpaceX has designed each V3 satellite with 1Tbps of download bandwidth, a 10x increase over the V2 models, with the goal of delivering gigabit speeds. 

In his tweet, Musk also noted that the company plans to orbit the V3 satellites around 350 kilometers from Earth, down from the usual 550km, "which cuts latency due to speed of light down to ~5ms."

Currently, SpaceX's satellite internet service can offer a latency as low as 22 milliseconds in certain parts of the US; the average latency for ground-based internet is usually around 12ms. Hence, lowering Starlink’s latency under 20ms promises to help close the gap between Starlink and traditional broadband.

Still, SpaceX’s proposed upgrades for Starlink, including the lower 350km orbits, will depend on approval from the US Federal Communications Commission, which has yet to rule on the company’s request to operate close to 30,000 Starlink satellites. 

Starlink subscribers will also likely need to buy new hardware to fully access the faster speeds from the V3 satellites. The company is preparing a new Starlink dish meant to offer gigabit speeds. Over the long term, SpaceX plans on manufacturing 5,000 and then close to 10,000 V3 Starlink satellites per year.