Elon Musk to offer broadband Internet via Starlink by mid-2020

Yesterday, Elon Musk send the first tweet via a Starlink satellite terminal at his house. As we covered before, Starlink is the upcoming broadband Internet service from SpaceX. By launching thousands of small satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO), SpaceX aims to provide fast Internet with low latency in all corners of the world.

At the moment, just a couple of dozens Starlink satellites are orbiting the planet so a lot more rocket launches are necessary to cover enough area. Over at SpaceNews, SpaceX CEO Gwynne Shotwell reveals the plan is to offer broadband Internet to US customers by mid-2020.

Shotwell says SpaceX will need to do a total of six to eight satellite batch launches to be able to offer Internet service in the US. At the moment, the space flight company has deployed a total of 60 satellites via one Falcon 9 rocket launch in May 2019. SpaceX believes it will be able to provide global coverage with a total of 24 launches. The company is currently projecting 24 launches before the end of 2020.

SpaceX is confident it can start offering broadband service in the United States via its Starlink constellation in mid-2020, the company’s president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell said Oct. 22.

Getting there will require the company to launch six to eight batches of satellites, Shotwell told reporters during a media roundtable. SpaceX also has to finish the design and engineering of the user terminals, which is not a minor challenge, Shotwell acknowledged.

Whoa, it worked!!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 22 oktober 2019