SpaceX has taken a step further towards broadband internet access via satellite. Elon Musk's company successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket, which delivered two Starlink demonstration satellites, called Tintin A & B, communicating with Earth.
The company has been working on it for some time, and the two Starlink satellites will help it test its systems to retransmit Internet access to the earth before others are deployed in space, because the goal of Space X is to form a constellation of thousands of small satellites. The launch was scheduled for the weekend, then delayed to allow more rigorous testing of the fairing, but the launch took place mid-week and both Tintin are now in orbit.
Traditional satellite Internet services are expensive and may be lagging due to the operation of geostationary satellites. But with what Space X tries to accomplish, it's possible to overcome the barriers of distance and offer faster, more affordable service than existing services.
SpaceX plans to put thousands of such satellites into orbit between 2019 and 2024, in the hope that revenue generated from the service it provides will fund missions to Mars.
0 comments:
Post a Comment