Elon Musk has set a target of 1 gigabit per second internet speeds, but before he accomplishes this ambitious goal, he should check out how effectively his satellite dishes perform.
When dishes exceed 122° Fahrenheit (50° Celsius), they undertake thermal shutdowns, according to a new article by Ars Technica.
A Starlink beta user in Arizona lost internet service for over seven hours when his satellite dish made a thermal shutdown.
When internet went down, user discovered this the hard way when he received the following error messages, which he published on Reddit: "Thermal shutdown," says the message. "Starlink will reconnect after cooling down," says the dish, which "overheated."
"Dishy will go into heat shutdown at 122°F and will restart when it reaches 104°F (50° and 40° Celsius respectively)," according to Starlink support. He even tried to chill down by watering it down, which worked but only for a short time.
The repair was just temporary. "When he turned off the sprinkler, the dish reheated and cycled back on for a few minutes before going back to thermal shutdown. The overheating began around 11:30 a.m. that day and ended around 7 p.m. ,I'm going to the hardware store right now to acquire stuff to make a solar shade/sail around the dish to test if it affects connection and speed."
According to SpaceX, Dishy McFlatface can operate in temperatures ranging from 22 degrees below zero to 104 degrees Fahrenheit (-30 degrees to 50 degrees Celsius). Unfortunately, when it comes to electronics, overheating is a major problem that is difficult to address.
It's also worth noting that the Starlink service is still in beta and isn't fully operating. Customers should expect interruptions until the satellite constellation is more fully built out, and reviewers say Starlink is amazing when it works, but it's still inconsistent.
