After receiving approval last week to provide satellite internet service on moving vehicles, including on boats, SpaceX has launched Starlink Maritime.
According to the Starlink website, the Maritime service provides high-speed, low latency internet with download speeds of up to 350Mbps while at sea. The company says their equipment can withstand extreme cold, heat, hail, sleet, heavy rain, and gale force winds, and even rocket engines. SpaceX uses Starlink to broadcast rockets landing on their remote drone ships.
As with almost everything boat-related, be prepared to pay a lot of money to get Starlink Maritime.
The required hardware, which is two “high performance” Starlink terminals and Pipe Adapter Mounts, will set you back $10,000 USD. Then there will also be a $5,000 USD monthly fee.
Fortunately it is billed in one-month increments and you can pause and un-pause the service as often as you want.
Starlink Maritime is not available worldwide yet, as a coverage map shows it is only available relatively close to shore around most of North America, parts of South America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
The coverage area is expected to expand greatly later this year and into early next year.
