SpaceX's Next Big Project: Very Fast & Reliable Worldwide Satellite Internet Connection
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has become more and more unstoppable. After thoughts about plans for Mars, he's now bringing fast internet connection all over Earth.
Mashable states that Musk has mentioned about this a whole lot of times and it seems that he's really not going to put a halt on this plan. However, another company has also expressed the desire of bringing fast internet to the world through 648 satellites planted in strategic locations: OneWeb. Not just that, even Boeing and Facebook has also expressed this plan. As for the latter, it seems like they have to devise another plan after Falcon 9 explosion last September which destroyed Facebook's satellite for parts in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Ars Technica says that Musk's plan includes a new satellite system which offers lower latency and greater speeds as compared to existing satellite networks already built. To make the plan official, Musk formally submitted an application to US Federal Communications Commission last Tuesday. This is to authorize the private spacecraft company for satellite space station rights.
Despite having the official document, the company is yet to announce when they will start producing and installing the said satellites. However, the document from US Federal Communications Commission specified the year 2019, which may possibly be the year when we get to experience the fast internet Musk proposed.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk proposed that there will be a total of 4,425 satellites to be installed in low-Earth Orbits. The distance of these satellites from Earth will be at 715 to 823 miles. These is very far from existing satellites by HughesNet satellite network which were installed at 22,000 miles. According to SpaceX, "with deployment of the first 800 satellites, the system will be able to provide US and international broadband connectivity; when fully deployed, the system will add capacity and availability at the equator and poles for truly global coverage."
