SpaceX Launches Starlink V3 as Carney Bets Billions on Telesat

SpaceX just took a major step toward making Starlink significantly harder for competing satellite networks to catch, including the Canadian-backed Telesat Lightspeed constellation that has yet to begin commercial service.

On Monday morning, SpaceX deployed 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites from Starship Flight 14, which also marked Starship’s first orbital flight. The launch was the first time the company’s next-generation V3 satellites joined the active constellation, as reported by Tesla North. The company said it established contact with all 26 satellites after deployment.

The numbers show why the launch today from Starbase, Texas, matters. The 26 satellites can add up to a whopping 26 terabits of capacity to Starlink, with each V3 satellite designed for 1 Tbps of downlink capacity, roughly 10 times its V2 predecessor. Starlink says a Starship carrying V3 satellites can deploy about 20 times the network capacity of a Falcon 9 launch carrying V2 satellites.

In the video below, Starship can be seen deploying the V3 satellites through its “Pez dispenser,” the payload slot that releases satellites one at a time. SpaceX also mounted a camera on one of the V3 satellites, providing a view of the deployment sequence with connectivity supplied by Starlink. It’s crazy we get to see this in real-time:

That rapid expansion comes as Prime Minister Mark Carney pushes Canada to reduce its dependence on the U.S. and Starlink specifically. Carney recently told The New York Times that “Starlink, we will diversify away from, no question.”

Canada is betting heavily on Ottawa-based Telesat as part of that strategy. The federal government has committed a $2.14 billion repayable loan to Lightspeed and another $600 million to secure future broadband capacity. In August, Ottawa also awarded Telesat an initial $2.3 billion military communications contract tied to an expanded Lightspeed constellation. U.S. investor MHR Fund Management owns 35.5% of Telesat, whose CEO Dan Goldberg is a longtime friend of Carney.

Lightspeed, however, is not yet operational as it recently delayed its launch timeline yet again. Telesat currently expects global service to begin in the first quarter of 2028. Its expanded network will include 225 satellites, with spacecraft built by MDA Space in Montreal.

At the same time, Telesat is relying on SpaceX itself to get many of those Canadian-backed satellites into orbit. The company says its Lightspeed satellites will launch aboard already-booked SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets, with another Falcon 9 launch planned subject to a final agreement.

That leaves Canada pursuing a domestically controlled alternative to Starlink while depending on the same U.S. company behind Starlink for access to orbit.

Meanwhile, SpaceX is no longer waiting for V3 to arrive. The first 26 operational satellites are now in orbit, and future Starship deployments are designed to add far more Starlink capacity per launch than today’s Falcon 9 missions carrying V2 satellites.