It often happens with revolutionary technologies: they create unforeseen difficulties. Elon Musk’s Starlink Satellite Internet Has a “Cat” Problem …
It is the middle of winter in the United States, as in the entire Northern Hemisphere. But there heavy snowfall they are quite common.
Snow covers the entire ground as well as the roofs, that’s why the animals seek any shelter to shelter from freezing temperatures.
And what better refuge than a satellite dish that gives off heat? Stray cats have noticed this, and are queuing to find a place in Starlink satellite dishes:
This Christmas some Starlink users have started to hang up photos of cats and other animals, like birds and squirrels, which they climb onto Starlink’s satellite dishes, because they give off heat.
It is not something specific, because this issue has been debated on Reddit for 11 months.
Some users have measured the temperature of the antenna disk, and found that gives off heat, both above and below. So it is natural that it attracts animals in winter.
It is even a good place for birds to make their nests, under the antenna. In the same Reddit thread, other users comment that they have spotted a raven on his album.
It is not clear that the presence of an animal blocks the signal, but it is a danger because it can break the antenna itself.
Starlink is Elon Musk’s satellite internet company.
Using SpaceX rockets, it has launched thousands of satellites that offer the Internet in any corner of the world, even in remote areas. Also in Spain.
This new technology has caused some problems, as satellites reflect light and interfere with astronomers’ telescopes.
A few days ago, China formally protested that one of these satellites was about to collide with the Chinese space station.
To use Starlink customers have to install a satellite dish in your home. The normal thing is to install it on the roof or on an exterior wall of the building, where it would be safe from cats, but apparently many people put it at ground level in the garden, on the terrace, and some absent-minded, even in the car…
There is little the company can do here except recommend to its customers that install the antenna in a place inaccessible to animals.