Event38 adding SpaceX Starlink to drones for BVLOS flights

An Event38 employee shared on LinkedIn a tease of an upcoming addition to its E455 drones, SpaceX’s Starlink internet. This use would be linked to its BVLOS variant and would allow higher data rates over long distances with low latency and high reliability.

SpaceX’s Starlink internet has grown up over the last year. With the Elon Musk owned space company ramping up launches to once or twice a week, putting thousands more satellites into orbit. This increase means high bandwidth and more coverage across Earth’s surface.

If you don’t know what Starlink is: Part of SpaceX, Musk’s commercial launch provider, its goal is to provide high speed internet to anyone on the planet. Primarily meant for rural residents that are still using dialup connections or have only one provider as an option, it has also been used on boats, airplanes, RVs, and on a really adventurous Prius.

Event38 is working on bringing that sort of tech to drones. A challenge for many Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations is connectivity. While flights in regions with cell towers can be fine, a constant connection when flying outside tower ranges leaves operators in the dark about their drone. It might also mean the company can’t operate at all if they don’t have a connection to the drone.

Event38 will supposedly give an update formally announcing the product soon, but no details were given on when that might be.

The drone lineup chosen by Event38 will be its E455 heavy-lift drone. The quadcopter comes in below the FAA Part 107 requirement of aircraft being below 55 pounds and features a fixed wing for added efficiency. It can be used to carry over 60 pounds of payload and can map large distances with its two hour flight time.

The terminal supposedly being used is Starlink’s new Mini terminal. Announced earlier this year, the new terminal is much smaller and lighter weight than its previous version, which is probably why Event38 chose it over the purposely built aviation terminal Starlink offers.

Starlink has been used in flight by major airlines to offer inflight wifi to its patrons but also on SpaceX’s own spacecraft for use with downloading telemetry and live video.

As BVLOS waivers become more and more common from the FAA, the addition of satellite based internet will help open up more opportunities for UAV uses.