SpaceX‘s Starlink Maritime has been deployed on a $35-million Instagram-famous superyacht.
Known as Loon, the 18-foot-long yacht has over 62,000 followers on the social network – it posts pictures of the yacht, crew and onboard food – and began using the high-speed, low-latency satellite internet service offered by Elon Musk‘s company in July when it first debuted.
Starlink Maritime costs $5,000 per month for speeds of around 150-200 Mbs and according to the superyacht’s captain, it’s worked very well. The service has an upfront hardware fee of $10,000 for two ‘ruggedized’ Starlink dishes.
People at sea have struggled to access reliable internet, with Starlink potentially revolutionizing connectivity for maritime travelers and workers.
SpaceX’s Starlink Maritime has been deployed on a $30-million Instagram-famous superyacht known as Loon, which is currently on the way to Florida, and can be seen above
Starlink Maritime costs $5,000 per month for speeds of around 150-200 Mbps and according to the superyacht’s captain, it’s worked very well
The 18-foot-long yacht began using the high-speed, low-latency satellite internet service offered by Elon Musk’s company in July when it first debuted
‘We have one superyacht, a $30 million, 180-foot superyacht. We upgraded to Starlink the day it became available for the maritime setup,’ captain Paul Clarke told Teslarati, which first reported the news.
Boat International described the luxury yacht this way: ‘Inside, classic-inspired interiors by Claudette Bonville are finished with glossy wood paneling and large windows offering panoramic views.
‘One highlight is the vaulted sky lounge, which can welcome as many as 100 guests for evening soirees. Across the lower levels, six generous staterooms provide accommodation for up to 12 guests, waited on by a crew of 14.’
The superyacht also has an infinity pool, jacuzzi, open-air bar and a toy box featuring a ‘floating FunAir sea pool, an inflatable slide, Jet Skis, a golf setup, SeaBobs and gear for sports such as waterskiing and wakeboarding.’
Boat International described the luxury yacht this way: ‘Inside, classic-inspired interiors by Claudette Bonville are finished with glossy wood paneling and large windows offering panoramic views
‘Across the lower levels, six generous staterooms provide accommodation for up to 12 guests, waited on by a crew of 14’ the publication wrote
The superyacht, which can be rented for $325,000 per week, also has an infinity pool, jacuzzi, open-air bar
SpaceX founder Elon Musk responded on Twitter to the Teslarati story about the yacht’s Starlink service, saying ‘cool’
The boating website reports that Loon can be rented for $325,000 per week.
Previously Clarke was paying $10,000 for service plus $50,000 for equipment from Viasat and the speeds were around 40-80 Mbps.
Musk responded on Twitter to the Teslarati story, saying ‘cool.’ Starlink, which costs $110 a month with a $599 one-time equipment fee for residential customers, currently has over 2,900 satellites in orbit with plans for at least 42,000 in orbit eventually.
‘I think it’s great. Honestly, we are very happy with it in the early days and I think it’s a total game changer,’ Clarke told Teslarati. ‘The fact that we can stream multiple streams in high definition whereas before we’d struggle with one maybe two streams going.
‘Every TV on the boat can be turned on to stream Netflix and live sports without issues. It’s definitely highly recommended.’
Starlink Maritime currently only extends outward to waters around North America, Europe and Australia.
By the fourth quarter of this year, the company plans to extend that coverage to a much wider swatch of the oceans in the Northern Hemisphere, with plans to extend it out to the rest of the world’s oceans in the first quarter of 2023.
The company projects maritime performance speeds of 100-350Mbps down and 20-40Mbps up on its site.
‘We’re on the way to Florida now and plan to spend the next four to six weeks in Florida just making sure the annual maintenance of the boat. And then we’ll head down to the Caribbean. It will be a good test for that area as well before shooting back over to the Mediterranean in probably May of next year.’
Last week, the SpaceX announced a partnership with Royal Caribbean to provide Starlink on its fleet of cruise ships to solve the historically bad connections that are typical on such ships.
The low-latency broadband will be installed on all of the company’s International, Celebrity and Silversea cruise ships – as well as all new vessels for these brands – and will be completed by March 2023.
‘This technology will provide game-changing internet connectivity onboard our ships, enhancing the cruise experience for guests and crew alike,’ Jason Liberty, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group, said in a statement.
‘It will improve and enable more high-bandwidth activities like video streaming as well as activities like video calls.
‘I think it’s great. Honestly, we are very happy with it in the early days and I think it’s a total game changer,’ Clarke told Teslarati. ‘The fact that we can stream multiple streams in high definition whereas before we’d struggle with one maybe two streams going’
Starlink Maritime currently only extends outward to waters around North America, Europe and Australia
