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SpaceX Starlink satellite internet tested in the field in Antarctica

Starlink appears to be performing well during Antarctic field testing. (COLDEX)

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3 years ago

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SpaceX’s Starlink internet continues to find success in Antarctica, Earth’s icy southernmost continent and has spread beyond McMurdo Station.

The company first reported that Starlink reached Antarctica as part of a National Science Foundation experiment in September 2022. The milestone also marked the satellite internet network’s arrival on all seven continents.

A series of lasers

Just ~5% of the almost 3400 working Starlink satellites currently in orbit make coverage of Antarctica (and the Arctic) possible. SpaceX currently has 181 polar-orbiting satellites in operational orbits, likely providing a decent amount of coverage in polar regions. But that’s only a third of the 520 polar satellites SpaceX’s Starlink Gen1 constellation will have once complete, meaning that coverage is likely intermittent for the time being.

Those polar satellites must also use optical interlinks (lasers) to connect Antarctic users to ground stations hundreds or thousands of miles away, as the vast and sparsely populated continent has no Starlink ground stations. Instead, users are connected to the internet via space lasers that route their communications to and from ground stations in South America, Australia, New Zealand, and other nearby locales.

Each Starlink V1.5 satellite has several laser link terminals that allow the constellation to create a mesh network in space and reach even the remotest users. (SpaceX)

Studying the oldest ice on Earth

The general purpose of the Center for Oldest Ice Exploration (COLDEX) field experiment Starlink is aiding is to find the oldest ice on Earth. That old ice allows scientists to peer back tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years back into Earth’s past. Most importantly for the modern era, that ice can contain shockingly detailed information about the history of Earth’s climate.

Researchers like Dr. Neff collect ice cores by drilling miles into Antarctic ice sheets. Once removed, packaged, and carefully shipped by plane to labs around the world, the data extracted from those ice cores can tell researchers how the Earth has responded in the past to major and minor changes in climate. Knowing how it has responded and behaved before has helped scientists around the world determine with near certainty that human greenhouse gas emissions are causing average global temperatures to increase at a relatively rapid pace. Further studies, like those being done now, may help specify what kind of changes we can expect as climates warm; allowing cities, countries, and humanity as a whole to prepare for the worst while (hopefully) trying to prevent those outcomes.

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COLDEX began testing Starlink in the field in early December 2022. It’s not entirely clear if that testing is still ongoing, but Dr. Peter Neff appears to be optimistic either way. In a January 21st tweet, the assistant professor and field research director said that he was excited “to see how [Starlink] & other modes of high-speed connectivity can advance [science] communication [and]…alter how we do science on the ice.”

Finding a balance

The National Science Foundation has been a part of both Antarctic Starlink experiments, thus far, and finds itself in a unique position. Through funding and other means, the government agency is aiding efforts to test the limits of the SpaceX network and discover how it can benefit science (and improve life) in some of the harshest environments on Earth. Simultaneously, NSF holds a sort of supervisory role over other aspects of SpaceX’s Starlink constellation.

For the most part, that relationship is on an even keel and SpaceX has been highly forthcoming and happy to cooperate. Even without any explicit legal requirement, SpaceX has made wide-reaching changes to its satellites and continues to experiment with ways to reduce their brightness to ground observers and limit their impact on astronomy. Nonetheless, the FCC’s decision to tie SpaceX’s next-generation Starlink Gen2 constellation license with its cooperation with the NSF has given the latter agency a bit more regulatory power than it had before.

That arguably makes the involvement of the NSF (or NSF-funded researchers) in testing Starlink’s ability to benefit science even more important. Knowing firsthand how impactful the ability to access high-bandwidth internet can be in the field and at remote camps, the NSF should be better suited to make the kind of cost-benefit analyses required to determine how much of an impact (on the night sky and astronomy) is acceptable relative to the benefits Starlink can provide.

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Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Elon Musk

We tested Tesla Full Self-Driving’s ability to let you text and drive

We decided to test it, and our main objective was to try to determine a more definitive label for when it would allow you to grab your phone and look at it without any nudge from the in-car driver monitoring system.

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48 minutes ago

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December 4, 2025

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Credit: Grok

On Thursday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that Full Self-Driving v14.2.1 would enable texting and driving “depending on [the] context of surrounding traffic.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announces major update with texting and driving on FSD

We decided to test it, and our main objective was to try to determine a more definitive label for when it would allow you to grab your phone and look at it without any nudge from the in-car driver monitoring system.

I’d also like to add that, while Tesla had said back in early November that it hoped to allow this capability within one to two months, I still would not recommend you do it. Even if Tesla or Musk says it will allow you to do so, you should take into account the fact that many laws do not allow you to look at your phone. Be sure to refer to your local regulations surrounding texting and driving, and stay attentive to the road and its surroundings.

The Process

Based on Musk’s post on X, which said the ability to text and drive would be totally dependent on the “context of surrounding traffic,” I decided to try and find three levels of congestion: low, medium, and high.

I also tried as best as I could to always glance up at the road, a natural reaction, but I spent most of my time, during the spans of when it was in my hand, looking at my phone screen. I limited my time looking at the phone screen to a few seconds, five to seven at most. On local roads, I didn’t go over five seconds; once I got to the highway, I ensured the vehicle had no other cars directly in front of me.

Also, at any time I saw a pedestrian, I put my phone down and was fully attentive to the road. I also made sure there were no law enforcement officers around; I am still very aware of the law, which is why I would never do this myself if I were not testing it.

I also limited the testing to no more than one minute per attempt.

I am fully aware that this test might ruffle some feathers. I’m not one to text and drive, and I tried to keep this test as abbreviated as possible while still getting some insight on how often it would require me to look at the road once again.

The Results

Low Congestion Area

I picked a local road close to where I live at a time when I knew there would be very little traffic. I grabbed my phone and looked at it for no more than five seconds before I would glance up at the road to ensure everything was okay:

Looking up at the road was still regular in frequency; I would glance up at the road after hitting that five-second threshold. Then I would look back down.

I had no nudges during this portion of the test. Traffic was far from even a light volume, and other vehicles around were very infrequently seen.

Medium Congestion Area

This area had significantly more traffic and included a stop at a traffic light. I still kept the consecutive time of looking at my phone to about five seconds.

I would quickly glance at the road to ensure everything was okay, then look back down at my phone, spending enough time looking at a post on Instagram, X, or Facebook to determine what it was about, before then peeking at the road again.

There was once again no alert to look at the road, and I started to question whether I was even looking at my phone long enough to get an alert:

Based on past versions of Full Self-Driving, especially dating back to v13, even looking out the window for too long would get me a nudge, and it was about the same amount of time, sometimes more, sometimes less, I would look out of a window to look at a house or a view.

High Congestion Area

I decided to use the highway as a High Congestion Area, and it finally gave me an alert to look at the road.

As strange as it is, I felt more comfortable looking down at my phone for a longer amount of time on the highway, especially considering there is a lower chance of a sudden stop or a dangerous maneuver by another car, especially as I was traveling just 5 MPH over in the left lane.

This is where I finally got an alert from the driver monitoring system, and I immediately put my phone down and returned to looking at the road:

Once I was able to trigger an alert, I considered the testing over with. I think in the future I’d like to try this again with someone else in the car to keep their eyes on the road, but I’m more than aware that we can’t always have company while driving.

My True Thoughts

Although this is apparently enabled based on what was said, I still do not feel totally comfortable with it. I would not ever consider shooting a text or responding to messages because Full Self-Driving is enabled, and there are two reasons for that.

The first is the fact that if an accident were to happen, it would be my fault. Although it would be my fault, people would take it as Tesla’s fault, just based on what media headlines usually are with accidents involving these cars.

Secondly, I am still well aware that it’s against the law to use your phone while driving. In Pennsylvania, we have the Paul Miller Law, which prohibits people from even holding their phones, even at stop lights.

I’d feel much more comfortable using my phone if liability were taken off of me in case of an accident. I trust FSD, but I am still erring on the side of caution, especially considering Tesla’s website still indicates vehicle operators have to remain attentive while using either FSD or Autopilot.

Check out our full test below:

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Elon Musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announces major update with texting and driving on FSD

“Depending on context of surrounding traffic, yes,” Musk said in regards to FSD v14.2.1 allowing texting and driving.

Published

5 hours ago

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December 4, 2025

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Credit: carwow/YouTube

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced a major update with texting and driving capabilities on Full Self-Driving v14.2.1, the company’s latest version of the FSD suite.

Tesla Full Self-Driving, even in its most mature and capable versions, is still a Level 2 autonomous driving suite, meaning it requires attention from the vehicle operator.

You cannot sleep, and you should not take attention away from driving; ultimately, you are still solely responsible for what happens with the car.

The vehicles utilize a cabin-facing camera to enable attention monitoring, and if you take your eyes off the road for too long, you will be admonished and advised to pay attention. After five strikes, FSD and Autopilot will be disabled.

However, Musk announced at the Annual Shareholder Meeting in early November that the company would look at the statistics, but it aimed to allow people to text and drive “within the next month or two.”

He said:

“I am confident that, within the next month or two, we’re gonna look at the safety statistics, but we will allow you to text and drive.”

Today, Musk confirmed that the current version of Full Self-Driving, which is FSD v14.2.1, does allow for texting and driving “depending on context of surrounding traffic.”

There are some legitimate questions with this capability, especially as laws in all 50 U.S. states specifically prohibit texting and driving. It will be interesting to see the legality of it, because if a police officer sees you texting, they won’t know that you’re on Full Self-Driving, and you’ll likely be pulled over.

Some states prohibit drivers from even holding a phone when the car is in motion.

It is certainly a move toward unsupervised Full Self-Driving operation, but it is worth noting that Musk’s words state it will only allow the vehicle operator to do it depending on the context of surrounding traffic.

He did not outline any specific conditions that FSD would allow a driver to text and drive.

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Tesla Semi just got a huge vote of confidence from 300-truck fleet

The confidential meeting marks a major step for the mid-sized carrier in evaluating the electric truck for its regional routes.

Published

6 hours ago

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December 4, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

The Tesla Semi is moving closer to broader fleet adoption, with Keller Logistics Group wrapping up a key pre-production planning session with the electric vehicle maker’s team this week. 

The confidential meeting marks a major step for the mid-sized carrier in evaluating the electric truck for its regional routes.

Keller’s pre-production Tesla Semi sessions

Keller Logistics Group, a family-owned carrier with over 300 tractors and 1,000 trailers operating in the Midwest and Southeast, completed the session to assess the Tesla Semi’s fit for its operations. The company’s routes typically span 500-600 miles per day, positioning it as an ideal tester for the Semi’s day cab configuration in standard logistics scenarios. 

Details remain under mutual NDA, but the meeting reportedly focused on matching the truck to yard, shuttle and regional applications while scrutinizing economics like infrastructure, maintenance and incentives.

What Keller’s executives are saying

CEO Bryan Keller described the approach as methodical. “For us, staying ahead isn’t a headline, it’s a habit. From electrification and yard automation to digital visibility and warehouse technology, our teams are continually pressure-testing what’s next. The Tesla Semi discussion is one more way we evaluate new tools against our standards for safety, uptime, and customer ROI. We don’t chase trends, we pressure-test what works,” Keller said. 

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Benjamin Pierce, Chief Strategy Officer, echoed these sentiments. “Electrification and next-generation powertrains are part of a much broader transformation. Whether it’s proprietary yard systems like YardLink™, solar and renewable logistics solutions, or real-time vehicle intelligence, Keller’s approach stays the same, test it, prove it, and deploy it only when it strengthens service and total cost for our customers,” Pierce said. 

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