Photo: Nathan Owens; Prosser, WA, Starlink Megasite from June 2022
SpaceX is constructing Gateway “Megasites” for its second-generation Starlink satellites, as spotted by Kieran Kunhya (@kierank_) and further detailed by @Nathan Owens in a recent filing in the United Kingdom.
The filing shows that one Starlink Gen2 Megasite is being built in Wherstead, UK by the Hibernia Network, while the very first of the Gateways was constructed in Prosser, Washington in June 2022.
The site overview says that the site will be 1,196 square meters (12,874 square feet), and that it will be accessible on at least two sides, if not all four.
The filing also notes that the ground will need to include gravel fill, rather than concrete — the former of which can be seen in one of the photos shared by Owens that appears to depict the developing site in Prosser, Washington State; the latter was constructed in June of this year.
Each Starlink V2 Megasite will have 32x antennas per site and spherical radomes that are 2.1 meters (6.8 ft) in diameter with 2.7 meter (8.8 feet) overall height, and 1,550 kg total weight (3,400 lbs), and require 200-240VAC.
SpaceX Delays Starlink Fair Use Policy for US and Canada to 2023 https://t.co/KxI1YJKH96
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) December 2, 2022
Using a dark fiber connection, the Gateways will communicate with SpaceX’s network equipment in a nearby node hut.
According to SpaceX’s FCC filing, it says “two Ka-band gateway beams are transmitted at the same frequency, right hand circular polarization and left hand circular polarization, and 32 satellites may communicate with the same gateway at the same time, for a maximum of 64 co-frequency beams.”
32 Gen2 satellites can communicate with one Gateway at a time for a maximum of 64 co-frequency beams.
For now, of the six gateway sites, Wherstead is approved, Woodwalton is pending, Bristol is withdrawn, while Hoo, Fawley and Morn Hill have no status updates yet.
Last week, SpaceX filed for a new Megasite in Bellingham, WA.
Early SpaceX Starlink Gateway sites were discovered in Canada at the end of 2020, while the company applied to deploy six new Starlink ground stations in the UK in June.
