A battery-powered Starlink Mini is likely on the way
Thomas Ricker is a deputy editor and Verge co-founder with a passion for human-centric cities, e-bikes, and life as a digital nomad. He’s been a tech journalist for 20 years.
Code in recent Starlink firmware suggests that SpaceX might soon release a version of its smallest internet dish with an integrated battery. A battery-powered Starlink Mini would offer untethered portability for vanlifers, emergency responders, and anyone who wants fast, low-latency internet from almost anywhere on the planet.
University researcher Jinwei Zhao spotted a number of strings hinting at the integrated battery in a May firmware release, according to PCMag. The “message DishBatteryStats” line suggests code designed to return specific fields from an integrated battery, including the current state_of_charge. If the dish were simply being plugged into an external, third-party power bank, the Starlink firmware wouldn’t be able to natively read the battery’s exact charge percentage or charging...
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