The Snow Melt Mode of their Starlink satellite dish prevents snow from accumulating and interfering with signal, but apparently it also provides a great sitting area for the cats.
SpaceX's Starlink is making steady profits, although it is still inactive in several countries, such as Greece. The fledgling satellite Internet service has surpassed 100.000 satellite dishes worldwide, beating all problems with speeds and with operating temperatures. However, the company has to deal with an unforeseen factor with its dishes: Cats love them.
Aaron Taylor reported the incredible incident on Twitter "Starlink works great until cats find out the dish gets a little hot on cold days."
His recent image of five cats crammed into a Starlink plate went viral. In the photo, the Starlink dish is set at ground level (not that cats have a problem if they were on the tiles) and is surrounded by snow. As noted by the Tesla news agency, SpaceX, but also Tesmanian magazine, the Snow Melt Mode function of the dish may be to blame.
This feature, released in 2020, allows dishes to use self-heating capabilities to prevent snow from accumulating on it and to avoid signal interference.
In Aaron's Tweet, animal lovers around the world began to suggest alternatives to keeping cats warm amid heavy snowfall, but Taylor replied: "They have full access to the heated house and come and go as they please. They are there by their own choice "
In short, these cats have plenty of other places to hide from the cold, but they choose to sit on a $ 499 terminal plate. Although being overweight could potentially damage the appliance, it remains unclear to what extent cats interfere with the dish's signal.
In Twitter, Taylor said that all those furry bodies hunched over the dish managed to slow down the service's performance and interrupt live streams of movies, but didn't completely shut down the service.
It seems that cats are not the only ones who like dishes. In response to Taylor's tweet, one another Twitter user shared a photo of a bird on the plate with the caption: "Different species, same problem".
To be fair, SpaceX can do little to prevent animals from enjoying the comfort of Starlink equipment, other than perhaps suggesting users install it in hard-to-reach places.
To date, SpaceX has deployed about 1.800 satellites as part of its goal of providing high-speed internet to rural areas with Starlink. After promises from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and several missed deadlines, Starlink finally came out of beta in October. However, the success was short-lived, as the ongoing global chip shortage has limited partreatment and delayed orders in late 2022 and 2023.
For Greece, we expect the legal framework in which the service will operate.
