Video narration
How can one internet request travel from your home, up to satellites racing overhead, and back in seconds? Think of your Starlink dish like the first step after a Wi-Fi router: it sends your request into a network. But here’s the twist: one satellite does not permanently serve your home. Starlink is a moving constellation in low Earth orbit, passing data from satellite to satellite. Your terminal sends the request to a nearby satellite. It can then drop to a ground station—an Earth antenna connected to the internet—or cross through other satellites first. As satellites move, your connection hands off from one to the next. Their low orbit creates less delay than traditional geostationary satellite internet, though terrestrial connections can still be faster. So, what’s the route? Your dish sends data to low-orbit satellites, through a ground station or other satellites to the internet, and the response returns through the constellation to your terminal.