Satellite Internet service is usually seen as a last resort — something you get when there is literally no other option. SpaceX might be on track to change that. Elon Musk’s space firm has filed with the Federal Communications Commission seeking permission to deploy a network of satellites in orbit that would beam wireless Internet access to Earth from space. This is the first step in making the plan — first revealed in January — a reality.
Even today there are large swaths of the US and other developed nations that have little or no connectivity. It’s a matter of return on investment for the Internet service providers. If there are only a few potential customers in an area, it’s not worth the investment to run high-speed Internet infrastructure all the way out there. That leaves those people with limited options like dial-up and traditional satellite Internet.
SpaceX’s plan is to deploy a network of 4,000 small and cheap geosynchronous satellites to beam signals down to Earth. This approach would be easier to maintain than satellite Internet managed by Dish and DirecTV, which rely on just a few larger (and more expensive) satellites. If one of SpaceX’s satellites fails, there’s a huge amount of redundancy and it’s cheap to replace. It certainly helps that SpaceX has its own rockets that can be used to launch new satellites too.
These SpaceX satellites would be set up in a low-Earth orbit, allowing them to reach more areas and hand off connections to improve reliability and speed. One of the most significant issues with satellite Internet is latency — more than half a second for most services. Having satellites in a lower orbit with more interconnectedness will certainly help with that, but it’s not clear SpaceX’s system would be good enough for real-time applications.
This isn’t going to happen overnight, and it’s definitely not going to be cheap. The FCC filing seeks permission to begin a test deployment of a few satellites, which can be used to assess the antenna technology and see if the plan is even feasible. Google and Fidelity have invested $1 billion in SpaceX, part of which is earmarked for the satellite Internet project. SpaceX estimates the project could cost as much as $10 billion when all is said and done.
Despite the high cost, Musk sees this as a good long-term source of revenue to support future spaceflight. Google is also toying with the idea of delivering Internet access to rural areas with its Project Loon balloons. For Google it’s all a matter of getting more people on the Internet to look at ads, but for SpaceX, it’s a stepping stone to Mars.
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