Running Tailscale on the Starlink Gen 7 "Orb" (Jailbreak Edition)

Ever since SpaceX released the Starlink Gen 7 (the spherical, floating one that follows you around like a Fallout eyebot), users have been asking us the same question: "Can I run a subnet router on it so I can access my Home Assistant instance while I'm in the Low Earth Orbit transport loop?"

Previously, the answer was no. The Gen 7 runs MuskOS 4.2, which is notoriously locked down with biometric crypto-keys. But thanks to a zero-day exploit found in the dish's RGB lighting controller (CVE-2034-9921), we can finally break out of the sandbox.

Today, we’re happy to announce Tailscale for Starlink Orb. It's written in Rust, compiled to WebAssembly 5.0, and yes—it survives the firmware auto-updates.

The Hardware Challenge

The Gen 7 Orb is a beautiful piece of hardware, but it has no external ports. To get a shell, you have to induce a glitch in the wireless charging handshake. We built a custom induction coil using a modified Raspberry Pi 9 to inject the payload.

Once the voltage glitch occurs, the Orb drops into EMERGENCY_RECOVERY_MODE. From there, it exposes a temporary IPv6 link-local address.

Installing Tailscale

We've packaged the Tailscale binary as a kernel module disguised as a lighting configuration file. The Starlink OS validates the signature of the kernel, but—hilariously—does not validate the signature of the LED patterns.

To install, just point your neural-interface terminal at the Orb's local IP:

# Connect to the Orb via localized Li-Fi
$ ssh root@fe80::2a01:orb:b33f%wlan0

# Standard password is "admin" or "ilovemars"
Password: *********

# Download the payload
$ curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install-starlink-orb.sh | sh

The script creates a persistent systemd service (yes, they are still using systemd in 2034) that starts `tailscaled` on boot.

Mesh Networking in Space

The real magic happens when you enable Tailscale Funnel. Because the Orb has a direct laser link to the satellite constellation, your latency to the Moon Base Alpha exit node drops to ~1200ms. It's not great for gaming, but it's perfect for syncing your Obsidian notes.

Here is a tailscale status output from my Orb sitting on a balcony in Neo-San Francisco:

100.85.2.1      orb-gen7-maya   root@   linux   active; direct 10.0.0.1:41641
100.99.5.4      lunar-gateway   root@   nixos   active; relay "moon-south-pole"
100.102.1.9     tesla-bot-v4    root@   android active; direct 192.168.1.55:41641

What about bandwidth caps?

This is the best part. Traffic routed through the internal diagnostic VLAN (VLAN 404)—which Tailscale now uses—is currently unmetered by SpaceX billing systems. We assume they will patch this within weeks, so enjoy your free petabyte transfers while you can.

Future Plans

We are currently working on a port for the Neuralink V3 chip, allowing you to route traffic directly into your visual cortex, but we're having trouble getting the ACL tags to play nice with human consciousness.

Until then, happy hacking, and keep your dishes pointed up.