SpaceX plans to launch first internet-providing satellites in 2019
SpaceX plans to launch first internet-providing
satellites in 2019
by Rich McCormick May 4, 2017, 12:19am EDT
SpaceX has its sights set on Mars, but that doesn’t mean
it has forgotten about Earth. Elon Musk’s company yesterday outlined its plan
to put a network of internet-providing satellites around our planet, stating in
a Senate hearing on broadband infrastructure that it wanted to start sending
the craft into space in 2019, before the full network came online in 2024.
SpaceX’s vice president of satellite government affairs,
Patricia Cooper, said that the company was aiming to get a prototype satellite
into space this year, before launching another in the early months of 2018.
These prototypes will be used to demonstrate that the custom-built craft are
capable of providing internet for Earth dwellers, but assuming the tests go
successfully, SpaceX plans to start building the network proper in 2019.
The company will launch additional satellites in phases
until 2024, at which point Cooper says the network should have reached full
capacity, with the craft operating on the Ka- and Ku-band frequencies. SpaceX
will be using its own Falcon 9 rockets to get the satellites into low-Earth
orbit — a measure that will help it save costs and ensure it’s not beholden to
the launch schedules of other spacefaring firms.
Cooper said the plan would put 4,425 satellites into
orbit around the Earth, operating in 83 planes, at fairly low altitudes of
between 1,110 kilometers and 1,325 kilometers. The company will also support
its network with ground control centers, gateway stations, and other
Earth-based facilities. That makes it an ambitious plan, not least in terms of
volume. There are only an estimated 1,459 satellites in orbit around our planet
at the moment — the SpaceX scheme would launch triple that figure, potentially
cluttering up the space around Earth, making future launches potentially
difficult and dangerous.
But while the plan might increase the amount of space
junk, it could also make it much easier for everyone to get relatively fast
internet back on Earth. Cooper said that using a space-based network meant
companies didn’t need to install, rip up, and reinstall cabling in order to
provide a service. "In other words, the common challenges associated with
siting, digging trenches, laying fiber, and dealing with property rights are
materially alleviated through a space-based broadband network," she said.
System updates, SpaceX says, will allow the network to
stay relevant and up to speed with technological changes — hopefully ensuring
that we don’t end up with a mass of useless satellites in low orbit a few short
years after their launch. The network will also be able to adapt to need,
allocating resource to specific areas during busy times, and avoiding
interference with other systems. Customer terminals will be the size of a
laptop, Ars Technica says, while speeds should be somewhere between current
cable and fiber-optic options, with latencies of around 35ms.
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