Overview
- SpaceX filed with the Federal Communications Commission on July 9–10 asking authority to operate 100,000 Gen3 satellites in low Earth orbit as an expansion of Starlink.
- The company describes each Gen3 spacecraft as roughly 2,000–2,500 kilograms with 300–400 square metres of solar arrays and planned orbits near 320–480 km, which makes them far larger than current Starlink craft.
- SpaceX says mass deployment will rely on its Starship heavy launcher or interim Falcon Heavy flights because the standard Falcon 9 cannot carry meaningful numbers of the heavier Gen3 satellites.
- The application requests unusually broad spectrum access across Ku, Ka, V, E, W and D bands plus waivers of certain FCC rules, and SpaceX claims the design could boost total Starlink bandwidth roughly 100‑fold and cut latency below 20 ms.
- The request now enters FCC Space Bureau review and public comment, with astronomers and rivals raising concerns about interference, spectrum coordination, orbital crowding and debris mitigation that could shape any approval or conditions.