SpaceX’s Starlink has been making atmospheric waves this year, with customers having received the first round of the company’s self-dubbed “Better than Nothing” beta earlier this fall. And now, a new wave of updates is storming its beta users’ interfaces, offering a happy holiday gift from the aeronautics company.
According to an email to beta users, Starlink’s new update includes a number of exciting improvements to the new low-Earth orbit satellite technology.
Among the updates announced are improved NAT types, bug fixes to Xbox Live, improved latency, and a snow melt mode which is to improve signal on particularly snowy days. The tweet, as shared by Twitter user @Dr_rami, also includes screenshots of the email sent, as shared below.
E-mails like this makes me look forward to the new year!!! 🥰💕#starlink pic.twitter.com/9rIvWU7Enh
— RaMi !!!!♿ (@Dr_rami) December 23, 2020
SpaceX’s email also shared that the company has started repositioning over 500 satellites to correct coverage issues learned throughout the beta’s course. While SpaceX says they may introduce a short period of increased outages, the company says it will substantially improve user experience as soon as Q1 2021.
Amazon recently announced its own low-Earth satellite project, Project Kuiper, under its affiliate company Blue Origins. In spite of this, SpaceX will have at least a year-long head start, since Project Kuiper’s beta satellites aren’t set for delivery until at least 2021, and likely well into 2022.
SpaceX will continue testing and delivering its satellite internet to rural customers, and as it does, it will likely keep rolling out updates too. And if they’re anything like those at Tesla, they’ll surely make a positive, tangible difference in the experiences of its users.
Below are screenshots from SpaceX’s original email, shared on Twitter by user @Dr_rami.
