SpaceX Plans To Send the First of Its 4,425 Super-Fast Internet Satellites Into Space in 2019 (cnbc.com)

Elon Musk's SpaceX has laid out a plan to create a network of internet-providing satellites around Earth. The company hopes to start launching satellites into space in 2019, and will continue to send them in phases until 2024, when the network is expected to reach capacity. From a report:On Wednesday, Patricia Cooper, SpaceX's vice president of satellite government affairs, said later this year, the company will start testing the satellites themselves, launch one prototype before the end of the year and another during the "early months" of 2018. Following that, SpaceX will begin its satellite launch campaign in 2019. "The remaining satellites in the constellation will be launched in phases through 2024," Cooper said before the Senate's Committee on Commerce, Science and Technology. [...] SpaceX argues that the U.S. lags behind other developed nations in broadband speed and price competitiveness, while many rural areas are not serviced by traditional internet providers. The company's satellites will provide a "mesh network" in space that will be able to deliver high broadband speeds without the need for cables.

Comments

Re:That's a lot of satellites

[EndlessNameless]

Satellites in geostationary orbit are about 500-600 ms, with most of that time being due to the bounce out to orbit and back.

Since these satellites are 1/30 of the distance (~1200 km vs ~35000 km), the ping time should drop significantly.

Light traveling in a vacuum (or through the atmosphere) is noticeably faster than light in a fiber optic cable. And sat-to-sat links are straight lines, whereas fiber gets laid wherever there are rights of ways---so the satellite mesh may offer superior latency for some routes.

All things considered, this really sounds doable. Replacing hundreds of satellites every year would have been an inconceivably expensive cost just a few years ago. But with cheaper launches, smaller satellites, and a potential global market... I would say that this approach makes more sense today than geostationary satellites. As long as there is enough demand to keep lifting new hardware.