HUGE SATELLITE PUSH
The race for global internet connectivity is on
Race is on for global internet connectivity as SpaceX seeks OK for 30K more in the sky
SpaceX has bet its future on a network of small satellites that could beam the internet down to Earth. This month, the company’s plans got a whole lot bigger.
Hawthorne, Californiabased SpaceX has requested permission from an international regulatory group to operate as many as 30,000 satellites at a specific frequency, power level and location in space.
The company received prior permission from the U.S. government to operate about 12,000 satellites and launched an initial 60 in May.
The new batch of 30,000 satellites is set to be in orbits ranging from about 200 to 360 miles above the Earth, according to filings submitted Oct. 7 to the International Telecommunication Union, which allocates radio spectrum and satellite orbits. The filings did not include details of when the satellites would be launched.
A SpaceX spokesperson said in a statement that the company was taking steps to “responsibly scale” total network capacity and data density to “meet growth in users’ anticipated needs.”
SpaceX makes its money by launching satellites for commercial and government customers, and ferrying cargo for NASA to the International Space Station. But company Chief Executive Elon Musk has said SpaceX’s launch revenue probably tapers off at about $3 billion a year.
The global internet connectivity market, on the other hand, is worth about $1 trillion. Musk has estimated that, with the company’s Starlink satellite constellation, SpaceX could capture at least 3%, or $30 billion, of that sector.
Musk also intends to use revenue from Starlink to fund his passion project: a Mars spaceship known as Starship that would be capable of ferrying up to 100 people to the red planet.
“SpaceX is relying on Starlink to provide a lot of profit for them,” said Laura Forczyk, owner of
space consulting firm Astralytical. “They have a lot of ambitious projects … that they need funding for.”
But the company faces daunting technical challenges to build the hightech satellite components cheaply enough to be affordable for users, with a level of reliability that can place it above competitors on the ground and in the sky.
Several other broadband-beaming satellite constellations have either launched or are in the works, including London’s OneWeb, which is backed by Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp., and British billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. Jeff Bezos’ Amazon.com Inc. has also entered the race with its Project Kuiper and asked the Federal Communications Commission in July for permission to launch more than 3,200 satellites.
With this in mind, part of SpaceX’s goal in filing for 30,000 satellites may be to reserve its place and prevent competitors from taking its desired orbit and frequency.
The large number of proposed satellites might also be to ensure seamless global coverage that can provide high data rates and increased reliability, said Kerri Cahoy, MIT’s associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics.