• SpaceX has been awarded almost $900M of assigned RDOF funds with a commitment to connect 640K locations across the United States with its incipient Starlink satellite broadband technology

• Cartesian was engaged by the Fiber Broadband Association and the NTCA – Rural Broadband Association to assess the Starlink network, including:

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– Contextual research on Starlink’s planned fleet

– Analyzing network capacity and network demand in committed RDOF locations

– Identifying implications for the FCC testing framework

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SpaceX (the brainchild of Elon Musk) is an aerospace company that is currently developing a constellation of satellites to deliver internet worldwide under the name Starlink. Thanks to reusable launch rockets, these low-orbit satellites cost a fraction of the price of typical satellite launches, making it easier and more affordable to launch satellites at scale.

The phasing parameter F determines the relative phasing between satellites in different orbital planes and thereby affects the relative position of the satellites in a constellation. The collisions between satellites within the constellation can be avoided if the minimum distance among them is large. From among the possible values of F in a constellation, a value of F is desired that leads to the maximum value of the minimum distance between satellites. We investigate F for two biggest upcoming satellite constellations including Starlink Phase 1 Version 3 and Kuiper Shell 2. No existing work or FCC filing provides a value of F that is suitable for these two constellations. We look for the best value of F in these constellations that provides the maximum value of the minimum distance to ensure intra-constellation avoidance of collisions between satellites. To this end, we simulate each constellation for each value of F to find its best value based on ranking. Out of the 22 and 36 possible values of F for Starlink Phase 1 Version 3 and Kuiper Shell 2, respectively, it is observed that the best value of F with highest ranking is 17 and 11 that leads to the largest minimum distance between satellites of 61.83 km and 55.89 km in these constellations, respectively.