SpaceX has asked the FCC for permission to install two (normally) ground-based Starlink user terminals aboard a maritime vessel.
The application says the request is “experimental” and would run September 1st until October 31st.
The full request says, “[to] operate two mobile ground-based Starlink user terminals aboard a maritime vessel while embarked in US territorial waters in the North Atlantic Ocean.”
It isn’t known what SpaceX intends to do with the experimental dishes, but it is worth remembering that the rocket company has two of its own vessels in the region. They are the ‘drone’ landing barges that are used for booster landings.
More traditionally, an installation was made in Oklahoma by the tribal Cherokee Nation by Chief Chuck Hoskin saying the tribe needs the SpaceX technology for its internet connectivity.
Also, France 24 has renewed a multi-year service agreement with Asia Satellite Telecommunications (AsiaSat) to continue distribution of France 24’s HD and SD television services in the Asia-Pacific on AsiaSat 5.
The news services, transmitting in free-to-air, include France 24’s English HD TV channel, English SD and French SD TV channels, addressing both French and English speaking viewers across the region.
The partnership of France 24 and AsiaSat began with the successful launch of France 24’s English-language news channel on AsiaSat 5 in 2009 and subsequently extended to the distribution of a French channel in 2010 and English HD service in 2016. France 24 has built a strong presence in Asia, with access to more than 88 million TV households via free-to-air TV networks and payTV platforms, and more than 675,000 hotel rooms in 27 Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries.
France 24 offers Asian viewers round-the-clock news and analysis from a French perspective, featuring special reports and magazines, as well as promoting the French vision with high quality content covering the French ‘art de vivre’, news of business updates, trends and technology, and sports in different continents.