SpaceX launches Starlink Mini 2 with a swappable battery for $999

Starlink is SpaceX's satellite internet service. Its satellites circle the planet in low Earth orbit, which means a few hundred miles up. That is much closer than older internet satellites, so the signal comes back faster.

The Mini is the small, travel-friendly dish. The original needed a power source at all times, so travelers carried extra gear. Mini 2 fixes that with a battery built into the design.

• Runtime: up to 4.5 hours on a full charge, SpaceX says.
• Spare batteries: sold separately, and you can hot-swap them, which means changing the battery while the dish stays on.
• Wall power: the dish can also run from a 60 watt USB-C source.

The removable pack is rated at 71 watt-hours, a measure of stored energy. It weighs about 1.08 pounds, or 490 grams. For comparison, many airlines allow batteries up to 100 watt-hours in carry-on bags, so a spare is easy to pack.

The pack has its own LED lights and its own USB-C charging port. It supports 60 watt USB-C Power Delivery, a standard that lets one cable carry a lot of power.

The retail kit includes a compatible 60 watt wall adapter and a three-meter USB-C cable. The dish also gets a physical power button. The first Mini simply turned on when you plugged it in.

In real life Picture a weekend at a lake. You set the dish on a picnic table, run a video call on battery power, then swap in the spare and keep going while the first pack charges in the car.

The router inside the dish moves from Wi-Fi 5 to Wi-Fi 6. Wi-Fi 6 is a newer wireless standard that handles many devices at once better than Wi-Fi 5. The built-in router covers about 1,800 square feet, or 167 square meters.

The hardware gets a few practical touches:

• Weather rating: IP67, the same dust and water protection as before.
• Kickstand: foldable, so the dish can stand at an angle.
• Tripod thread: a standard 1/4-inch-20 mount, the size cameras use.
• Field of view: a 55 degree view of the sky for finding satellites.

The dish is also a bit heavier because of the battery. It weighs around 3.5 pounds. The first Mini was officially listed at 2.43 pounds, or 2.56 pounds with its kickstand.

SpaceX's own order page is not public to everyone yet. Users who got invitations shared screenshots on X, and they show a price of $999. That includes a full year of Roam Unlimited service, which SpaceX values at $2,100.

That is a big jump from the dish alone. Just before the launch, SpaceX cut the original Mini to $149, down from $599 when it debuted in June 2024. Roam plans for it start at $55 a month for 100 GB of data.

The price comparison looks like this:

Why it matters: the $999 buys the dish and a year of unlimited service together. You are paying for the plan as much as for the hardware.

The original Mini launched as a limited trial in June 2024 for select US subscribers. SpaceX priced the kit at $599, and many fans had hoped for about $299. SpaceX said that lower price might come later, in regions where connectivity had been unaffordable or unavailable.

Its official numbers show what Mini 2 builds on:

• Power use: an average of 25 to 40 watts, which is why it needed a steady power source.
• Weather: an operating range of -30 to 50 degrees Celsius, and wind of 60 mph or more.
• Snow: it could melt up to 1 inch of snow an hour.
• Wi-Fi coverage: up to 1,200 square feet, which Mini 2 raises to about 1,800.

At launch, SpaceX also offered a $30 monthly Mini Roam plan with 50 GB of data on top of an existing home plan. Since then, the prices of both the dish and the plans have moved a lot. The dish went from $599 to $229 in November 2025, then to $199 in January 2026, and finally to $149.

Preorders are open "by invitation for select US customers," according to the Starlink website. SpaceX says it is "coming soon" to more customers and countries. Shipments are expected to begin in mid-December.

That means most people cannot order yet. Expect the invitation list to grow in the coming weeks as SpaceX opens it up.

Mini 2 did not arrive as a surprise. In July, network engineer Oleg Kutkov shared details from the dish's software and hardware. He said the terminal had entered production with a built-in four-cell lithium battery and a USB-C port for charging.

The same leak made a less welcome claim. It said the dish transmits only about 11% of the time, compared with 75% on the first Mini. That figure is called the duty cycle. A lower one saves power, but it could mean slower uploads.

The leaker believed this was a result of the new power budget. SpaceX has not confirmed it. The final design also uses a removable pack, not a fixed one, so treat the leak as a hint, not a spec sheet.

Independent tests will show how fast uploads really are. If you send big files or run video calls, wait for them before you buy.

SpaceX has been busy. The Starlink network recently passed 12 million customers, up from 6 million a year earlier, according to the ISPreview site's July report. Around 10,840 satellites are in orbit.

Smaller, cheaper dishes help SpaceX reach people who move around. That group includes campers, boaters, truckers and people who live in remote places.

A removable battery also opens up uses beyond the car. A hiker can carry the dish and a spare pack. A small team can run an emergency hub for hours without a generator. Whether SpaceX sells enough spare batteries to make that common is a question for the coming months.

• Campers and travelers: you can get online for a few hours without finding a power outlet, and a spare battery doubles that.
• Remote workers: Wi-Fi 6 and a bigger coverage area help if several devices share one dish.
• Budget shoppers: the original Mini at $149 is cheaper to start, though it needs external power.
• Heavy uploaders: wait for independent speed tests before paying $999.