Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s (SpaceX) Starlink satellite internet service will soon start to provide internet connectivity to space travellers and astronauts. The company is currently in the beta test phase of Starlink and it will end soon if Musk’s words bear fruit as the executive also believes that the service will be ready for operational service next month.
The company has put more than a thousand spacecraft into orbit by the first half of this year, and now Starlink is moving forward to deploy upgraded spacecraft, which will greatly reduce the need to use earth stations to transfer user data to and from the internet servers.
In the new satellites for Starlink, there will be optical connectivity, which is in fact lasers, and with SpaceX has launched the first batch of the new spacecraft earlier this month with the Falcon 9 rocket we may soon see a complete deployment of the satellite internet connection.
In his recent comments, Musk stated that Starlink will be using these spacecraft and the older ones to provide astronauts and other space travellers with internet connectivity when they will be outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
These comments come after the crew on board SpaceX’s first private crewed space mission shared their meal itinerary. And Musk had promised them of providing a “food warmer” and “free wifi” next time.
Yeah. We’d use our Ka parabolics or laser links for Dragon, Starship, or other spacecraft as soon as they got above cloud level.
Musk also stated that Starlink would exit its beta testing stage next month and this information comes as a big chunk of the users who have placed their pre-orders for the service, and its gear are waiting for deliveries.
SpaceX’s chief financial officer Mr Bret Johnsen has outlined that his company is currently manufacturing 5,000 user terminals per month. He also stated that the new satellite terminal is both cheaper and faster to manufacture than its predecessor.
SpaceX intends to use Starlink to provide connectivity to astronauts leaving the Earth and potential travellers to Mars.
So Patrick there were lots of reasons to enter into the telecom business. The companies always want growth and this was a good opportunity for growth for us, but there are other reasons as well. A low earth orbiting broadband constellation has never been successful. We always take on huge, visionary goals. And this was a goal worth taking on. No one has yet been successful Elon is always talking about [how] this business is littered with dead bodies, with companies that have not made it. So it was a challenge for us to go do.
So that was one reason. The second reason was once we take people to Mars, they’re gonna need the capability to communicate. I think it will be even more critical to have a constellation like Starlink around Mars. And then of course you need to connect the two planets as well, so we need to make sure we have robust telecom between Mars and back to Earth.
