Technology
Elon Musk says cheap Starlink satellite broadband service could be ‘fully mobile’ by the end of the year
ELON MUSK’S Starlink satellite broadband service could be fully up and running by the end of the year.
The billionaire SpaceX CEO revealed on Twitter that Starlink is almost ready to be “fully mobile”.
Starlink has over 1,000 satellites in orbit now.
It’s taken three years to get them all there.
That’s still far less than the tens of thousands Musk hopes to put in space but it’s apparently almost enough to start rolling out the cheap internet service to more customers.
Starlink was serving around 10,000 customers in February this year but only via its beta broadband program.
Musk tweeted this as a response to a question about his broadband service[/caption]
Next, it wants to expand its reach to customers who need internet in their moving vehicles.
Musk responded to a question about whether his service could be used in mobile homes.
He tweeted: “Yeah, should be fully mobile later this year, so you can move it anywhere or use it on an RV or truck in motion.
“We need a few more satellite launches to achieve compete coverage & some key software upgrades.”
Last year, SpaceX’s Starlink program secured around $885.5 million in grants from the US Federal Communications Commission.
Right now, people testing out the cheap Starlink service via the beta program can’t move their satellite dish between households.
Musk’s tweet makes it sound like Starlink would have advanced much more than this by the end of the year and could stop being only avaliable in a beta format.
What is Starlink?
Here’s what you need to know…
- Starlink is a satellite project led by billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk
- Musk intends to put 12,000 satellites into Earth’s orbit, possibly rising to 42,000 in future
- The ‘mega-constellation’ will eventually be able to beam internet coverage to anywhere on the planet
- SpaceX also intends to sell satellites for military, scientific and exploratory purposes
- The firm sends its satellites up in batches of 60 at a time and has so far deployed more than 800 into orbit.
- The satellites are launched atop unmanned Falcon 9 rockets, which are also built by SpaceX
- How the space tech affects the night sky is a major concern as they appear very brightly
- Astronomers and amateur stargazers have repeatedly blasted the firm for ruining their observations
- SpaceX argues that its satellites are only bright shortly after launch because they sit in a low orbit
- Over several weeks, the satellites move further from Earth, apparently dampening their effect on space observations
Most read in Science
In other news, Nasa has completed the first controlled flight on another planet following the lift-off of its Mars helicopter-drone, Ingenuity.
Nasa has baffled space fans by releasing an image of what appears to be a rainbow on Mars.
And, the mystery surrounding what looks like giant spiders on the surface of Mars may finally have been solved.
What are your thoughts on Starlink? Let us know in the comments…
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