SpaceX wants to launch satellites which provide high-speed internet
(Mirror Daily, United States) – During 2019, SpaceX is planning to launch a series of 4,425 satellites which will provide high-speed internet. This mission will undergo several phases until 2024, and is meant to offer broadband internet of high speed to rural areas which either use dial-up connections or are not in areas with internet providers.
Launching a series of satellites over the next decade
SpaceX announced that they wanted to launch a first prototype of such a satellite near the end of 2017, and the second prototype sometime at the beginning of 2018. If this attempt is successful, then they will start launching the actual satellites over the next ten years. This will increase the number of satellites on the orbit, and bring the company to a revenue of $30 billion until 2030.
SpaceX will use a different strategy to distribute the internet. Usually, internet providers invest in the installation of optic fiber cables on the ground. This means that they have to dig trenches for the cables, and this might be problematic in areas with intense traffic. Therefore, SpaceX’s strategy might be more effective.
Which internet is the best?
However, they might face competitions, as they might not obtain a speed as high as that provided by cables on the ground. Therefore, some people might still choose to opt for an on-ground internet network. This strategy is still optimal for rural areas, which most of the times have no other ways of acquiring high-speed internet.
This is not the first time when a company chooses to offer internet services via satellites. Boeing also launched several satellites which offered broadband services, and Google also developed Project Loon. This project consists of a balloon in the stratosphere which provides broadband internet.
SpaceX came up with an innovative idea to provide internet for as many areas on Earth as possible. This comes in really handy, as having a high-speed connection anywhere would offer everybody access to instant information.
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