A California Highway Patrol officer pulled over a vehicle on Friday that had a satellite dish bolted to the car’s hood, and the device appeared to be one of SpaceX’s Starlink antennas.
“Sir I stopped you today for that visual obstruction on your hood. Does it not block your view while driving?” CHP of Antelope Valley wrote in a Facebook post about the incident.
CHP added that the motorist replied: “Only when I make right turns.”
A representative of the law enforcement agency told CNBC that the motorist, driving a Toyota Prius, received a ticket for a moving violation. The motorist told CHP that they used the antenna to get Wi-Fi service for a business they operate out of the car.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Starlink is the company’s capital-intensive project to build an interconnected internet network with thousands of satellites, known in the space industry as a constellation, designed to deliver high-speed internet to consumers anywhere on the planet.
The “Starlink Kit” that is sent to customers includes four significant parts: The user terminal, also known as the antenna, a tripod mount, a Wi-Fi router and a power supply. SpaceX also offers rooftop mounting options for an additional cost.
SpaceX first rolled out the service in October with a beta program for select consumers for $99 a month and in the past year has sought regulatory approval to test the network inflight and expand the service to large moving vehicles, such as ships and trucks — but the antenna for vehicles is expected to look somewhat different from the dish currently sent to users at home.
Elon Musk noted earlier this week that SpaceX now has about 70,000 active users of Starlink, and may grow to “possibly over 500,000 users within 12 months.”
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Source: Business - cnbc.com
