SpaceX launches Starlink Mini, a portable, laptop-sized antenna for on the go
A much smaller and lighter Starlink Mini for satellite Internet on the move should be available in a few months. It will also be cheaper.
Picture of the standard antenna for Starlink, Starlink Mini is only half the size
(Image: Daniel AJ Sokolov)
SpaceX will be launching a compact version of its Starlink receiving system for satellite internet in a few months' time. Starlink Mini is significantly smaller and lighter than the company's standard antenna, but should still be able to achieve transmission rates of 100 Mbit/s or more. The portable Starlink antenna has an integrated Wi-Fi router and is particularly suitable for travelers and hikers, as Starlink Mini fits easily into a backpack thanks to the size of a notebook.
Starlink was already planning to beam its satellite internet into large vehicles such as trucks, airplanes and ships in 2021, for example to bring Starlink internet to motorhomes. Now comes Starlink Mini, a truly portable reception system. The antenna measures just 299 x 259 x 39 millimeters and is therefore only half the size of the standard Starlink antenna. At 1.1 kilograms, it even weighs just over a third, as the technical data already available in German reveals.
Starlink Mini with WLAN, but older generation
However, the WLAN router integrated in the Starlink Mini only supports WLAN 5 (802.11ac) as a wireless network standard. The Starlink standard antennas, on the other hand, offer WLAN 6 (802.11ax), which allows higher efficiency and speed of data transmission. Nevertheless, 100 megabits per second for downloads and more than 11 Mbit/s for uploads should be possible with Starlink Mini. At least that's what SpaceX boss Elon Musk claims in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The latency was 23 milliseconds, as his screenshot shows.
According to Musk, several 4K streams should be possible at the same time. According to him, he set up Starlink Mini in just five minutes and the receiver system is easy to stow and carry in a backpack. Starlink claims a WLAN range of 112 square meters for the small antenna, but in addition to WLAN, Starlink Mini also offers an Ethernet connection.
Compact antenna in some countries in a few months
Elon Musk also explained that Starlink Mini will be available to order in selected regions of the world in a few months' time. The mini antenna is also a good and cost-effective option as a backup for the internet connection, should the landline network fail, for example. However, he did not name any prices, but said that Starlink Mini would only cost half as much as the standard antenna.
Starlink itself offers a mobile tariff for 59 euros per month with unlimited mobile data within Germany. However, it is still unclear whether this tariff will also apply to Starlink Mini. Although the compact antenna is already listed, it is not yet available in Germany. The one-off price of Starlink Mini is also still unknown, but if Musk's price promise is true, it could cost around 175 euros. The standard Starlink antenna costs 349 euros in Germany.
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