Some Starlink units shut down if weather gets too hot
Capitalism in space: Some users of SpaceX’s Starlink internet dishes have found that the units shut down if the local weather gets too hot.
The units presently being distributed to customers are beta units, designed to test the system before SpaceX rolls out full commercial availability, so finding such issues is not unexpected. According to one engineer quoted at the link,
Engineers could change Dishy’s mechanical design to achieve better heat rejection, change the dish’s electrical components to expand its thermal operating window, or develop a feature that allows Dishy’s components to operate at reduced power to create less heat. He noted the latter two options would likely be taller orders. “If changes to Dishy’s mechanical design are insufficient to reject heat at a rate exceeding its ability to produce it, software changes will be required to make the system more thermally efficient,” Keiter said. “But if speed limiting and system optimization can’t fix the issue, it will require a significant hardware revision for the commercial launch.”
“Since they’ve got a lot of custom silicon in there—likely the limiting factor—the turnaround time on this would be very slow,” he added. “They could resort to some form of active heat removal like fans or thermoelectric cooling, but then they burn a ton of power which would make Dishy even more power hungry than it already is.”
“This is a really tricky engineering problem with some insanely tight constraints,” Keiter said. “The good news is that the team is pretty sharp.”
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Capitalism in space: Some users of SpaceX’s Starlink internet dishes have found that the units shut down if the local weather gets too hot.
The units presently being distributed to customers are beta units, designed to test the system before SpaceX rolls out full commercial availability, so finding such issues is not unexpected. According to one engineer quoted at the link,
Engineers could change Dishy’s mechanical design to achieve better heat rejection, change the dish’s electrical components to expand its thermal operating window, or develop a feature that allows Dishy’s components to operate at reduced power to create less heat. He noted the latter two options would likely be taller orders. “If changes to Dishy’s mechanical design are insufficient to reject heat at a rate exceeding its ability to produce it, software changes will be required to make the system more thermally efficient,” Keiter said. “But if speed limiting and system optimization can’t fix the issue, it will require a significant hardware revision for the commercial launch.”
“Since they’ve got a lot of custom silicon in there—likely the limiting factor—the turnaround time on this would be very slow,” he added. “They could resort to some form of active heat removal like fans or thermoelectric cooling, but then they burn a ton of power which would make Dishy even more power hungry than it already is.”
“This is a really tricky engineering problem with some insanely tight constraints,” Keiter said. “The good news is that the team is pretty sharp.”
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Reading the linked article, I am surprised by the operating range for the temperatures “Dishy’s optimal operating temperature is between -22°F to 104°F”.
I am surprised by the high end temperature of 104°F, that is low especially in an enclosure in my opinion. You would think that this would would have a rating of 130°F. The low end of -22°F is a typical spring day in North Dakota (just joking). I wonder about the hardware type testing they did.
I don’t think they should make all the units have milspec parts and an operating range of –40° to +185°F, but some of these issues can be fixed by looking at the thermal conductive compound and the aluminum plate. I saw the video on the teardown of “Dishy”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOmdQnIlnRo. This is not like the the Hughesnet dish with the big aluminum enclosure for the horn/transverter. I wonder if increasing the number conductive compound plugs and increasing the thickness of the aluminum plate would take care of this problem.
This problem sounds similar to a product I worked on that had a heating issue as well. We looked at heat pipes and fans, which would drive up the costs and power consumption, so we used an aluminum slug and throttled down the clock frequency on the processor to solve the problem.
I remember reading on the Starlink website that the “Dishy” can melt snow. Now we know how it is done!
I think they are planning a replacement for Dishy which will have separate transmit and receive components. This is only a beta test setup. Remember “better than nothing”
Q:
On what frequency are these dishes operating?
My only complaint is I have not received my “Dishy”! If Starlink is reading this and I solve your thermal mass problem, will I get one soon?
To answer Wayne’s question, here are the frequencies from the https://www.elonx.net/starlink-compendium/ website:
-Transmissions from satellite to user terminals: 10.7 – 12.7 GHz and 37.5 – 42.5 GHz
-Satellite to gateway transmissions: 17.8 – 18.6 GHz and 18.8 – 19.3 GHz and 37.5 – 42.5 GHz
-Transmissions from terminals to satellites: 14.0 – 14.5 GHz and 47.2 – 50.2 GHz and 50.4 – 51.4 GHz
-Transmissions from gateways to satellites: 27.5 – 29.1 GHz and 29.5 – 30.0 GHz and 47.2 – 50.2 GHz and 50.4 – 51.4 GHz
-Tracking, telemetry and control (downlink): 12.15 – 12.25 GHz and 18.55 – 18.60 GHz and 37.5 – 37.75 GHz
-Tracking, telemetry and control (uplink): 13.85 – 14.00 GHz and 47.2 – 47.45 GHz
I have always thought that beryllium is cool.
Not that I would machine it.
But still.
Cool.
Heat is such a noisy drag.
Chill !
How about a solar powered fan?
My Dishy has been running fine since February. Dishy has recently moved to its permanent home on the roof. Here in Maine I’m more worried about wind than heat! but I’m keeping an eye on it.
The debug display currently shows the following:
“alerts”: {
“motorsStuck”: false,
“thermalThrottle”: false,
“thermalShutdown”: false
},