Elon Musk talks about SpaceX Internet Starlink satellites

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday the company's Starlink satellite network during a phone call to reporters, the deciding factor to clear his vision of sending astronauts to Mars.

A few hours before the company's first full launch of the Starlink satellites, Musk explained in detail how they will work and how many SpaceXs can be launched.

Starlink represents the company's ambitious plan to build an interconnected satellite Internet network, also known as a "constellation", to deliver a broadband Internet network around the world. The Starlink complete network would consist of 11,943 satellites flying near the planet, closer than the International Space Station, to what is known as a low Earth orbit.

"We see this as a way for SpaceX to generate revenue that can be used to develop more and more rockets and spacecraft," said Musk.

"We expect to be able to use Starlink revenue to fund Starship," said Musk.

SpaceX has built and launched its Falcon rocket series more than 70 times. While rockets are among the most powerful in the world, Musk's ultimate vision is to send humans to live on Mars, requiring even larger rockets. It's where Starship intervenes, the gigantic SpaceX rocket that began testing in recent months. Starship is designed to be a fully reusable launch system, allowing to transport up to 100 people at a time from and to the Moon or Mars.

On the call, Musk said that SpaceX's recent fundraising campaigns "have been oversubscribed." He said SpaceX had enough funds to build and launch enough Starlink satellites to start using the network.

"At this point, it seems we have enough capital to move to an operational level," said Musk.

Musk shared a photo of the 60 Starlink satellites Saturday after loading them into the nose of the Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX launched two demonstration satellites in February 2018, but much of the program and satellite design remained unknown. Although Musk fired the Starlink program manager in June – a vice president Jeff Bezos quickly hired to develop a similar network – SpaceX continued to move the program forward quickly. In documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission, SpaceX noted some changes in its plans, such as the first part of Starlink would operate in a "very low Earth orbit". SpaceX also submitted a request this year to operate one million "earth stations" in the United States, the key to connecting satellites to the ground.

Musk said SpaceX would need "6 launches of more than 60" satellites per launch to get a "minor coverage" of the Internet. A dozen launches, or 720 satellites, are needed "for" moderate coverage, "he added.

He discussed more technical details regarding satellite design and capabilities than those previously disclosed. Each Starlink satellite has "about a terabit of useful connectivity," Musk said.

Starlink is one of the keys to funding future SpaceX projects. Yet it is also an "absolutely crazy" project requiring billions of dollars of investment to become operational, Musk said.

"SpaceX has to be incredibly spartan with spending until these programs pay off," Musk said in January. Musk blamed the dismissals at SpaceX in January in part because of Starlink.

SpaceX is one of several of these constellations in development, competing with OneWeb, supported by Softbank, Amazon's Kuiper project, the Canadian operator Telesat, and so on. These ambitious satellite networks will require considerable capital, with some industry leaders estimating that their costs could reach $ 5 billion.

Federal government documents predict that satellite constellations offer broadband speeds comparable to fiber optic networks, essentially creating a general connection across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Satellites would offer new direct wireless connections to consumers, rather than the redistribution of signals from the current system.