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SpaceX Raising $500 Million To Help Build Its 'Starlink' Satellite Broadband Network (cnbc.com)
According to the Wall Street Journal, SpaceX is raising a $500 million round of fundraising to help build its massive satellite internet project, called Starlink. "The new funding puts SpaceX's valuation at $30.5 billion," reports CNBC. "The report says the capital comes from existing shareholders as well as new investor Baillie Gifford, a Scottish investment firm." From the report: Starlink -- a name SpaceX filed to trademark last year -- is an ambition unmatched by any current satellite network. The company is attempting to build its own constellation of 4,425 broadband satellites, with another 7,518 satellites to come after. SpaceX will begin launching the constellation in 2019. The system will be operational once at least 800 satellites are deployed. Starlink would offer broadband speeds comparable to fiber optic networks.The satellites would provide direct-to-consumer wireless connections, rather the present system's redistribution of signals, transforming a traditionally high-cost, low reliability service.
IMHO, USA cost of broadband is from monopoly, and they'd simply drop the price to just below the cost. You cannot reliably deliver broadband by satellite, since television is no longer delivered by satellite primarily. This is wishful marketing at best.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teledesic
"Teledesic was a company founded in the 1990s to build a commercial broadband satellite constellation for Internet services. Using low-Earth-orbiting satellites small antennas could be used to provide uplinks of as much as 100 Mbit/s and downlinks of up to 720 Mbit/s. The original 1994 proposal was extremely ambitious, costing over 9 billion USD and originally planning 840 active satellites with in-orbit spares at an altitude of 700 km.[1] In 1997, the plan was scaled back to 288 active satellites at 1400 km.[2]"
"The commercial failure of the similar Iridium and Globalstar ventures (composed of 66 and 48 operational satellites respectively) and other systems, along with bankruptcy protection filings, were primary factors in halting the project, and Teledesic officially suspended its satellite construction work on October 1, 2002.[3] "
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/02/spacexs-satellite-broadband-nears-fcc-approval-and-first-test-launch/ says "SpaceX has said it will offer speeds of up to a gigabit per second, with latencies between 25ms and 35ms. Those latencies would make SpaceX's service comparable to cable and fiber. Today's satellite broadband services use satellites in much higher orbits and thus have latencies of 600ms or more, according to FCC measurements."
Latency and bandwidth will be much better than HughesNet. The SpaceX satellites are only about 1300km up, compared to HughesNet of 35000km up.
Despite all the negative publicity surrounding Elon, Tesla, et al, the South African continues to have no trouble attracting capital for new ventures.
We could do much worse betting on a vanguard, since so few seem hellbent on guiding us to a better future outcome.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
What Tesla has pulled off in the last twelve months is absolutely monumental. Intentionally or otherwise you're shamefully misinformed. I'm getting to the point where Tesla denying is my new Apollo Program denying; let your hate for achievement illuminate your utter lack of it you pathetic fud-spewing swine.
Um, Solar City promised to install solar panels, not Tesla. Solar City was then sold to Tesla, who sold the rights to this project to someone else. I don't see Tesla making a promise anywhere in this article.
Did you realize Solar City was it's own company for 10 years before it was bought by Tesla?
Companies trade at a multiple of cash-on-hand, plus the funding will be launching an unprecedented communications constellation next year which will itself be a major driver of ongoing revenue (some from me).
Yeah, that's worth more than $4B.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
[visiting Dr. covfefe.....]
patient: Hey doc, I don't feel right. Maybe something has changed.
covfefe: Let me look at you.... organs in body, teeth in head, shoes on feet. Just like last year. Let me know when that changes.
And builds tunnels under LA at a slower rate and at a higher cost than competent tunneling companies.
Not sure about speed but the Boring Company just had a presentation - the 1.3 mile tunnel under LA (one of the trickier drilling locations because of soil and regulatory issues) cost about 10 million to complete, vs.2 miles of NYC subway costing $3 BILLION dollars, and 2.5 miles of LA subway expansion costing $2 BILLION dollars.
Going back to speed, the stated speed goal for the Boring Company machines is to be "faster than a snail", where traditional tunneling is 14x slower than a snail... so if they're not faster already, they will be soon now that they have fine tuned the drilling machines. The same way they fine-tuned rockets and "suddenly" started landing rockets regularly.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
...but for sure the shadow produced by all these satellites will solve the global warming problem!