First Launch of SpaceX Internet Starlink Satellites

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gave a first glimpse Saturday of his company's Internet satellites packed and ready to launch in a few days.

These satellites represent SpaceX's ambitious plan to create a satellite Internet network known as Starlink. The company is one of many companies, including Amazon's Jeff Bezos, that build these interconnected satellite "constellations" to provide high-speed Internet access from space.

"These are production concepts, unlike our previous TinTin demos," Musk said in a thread of tweets, adding that he "adjusted" to place the 60 on a single SpaceX rocket.

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.

Little is known about the SpaceX Starlink system, other than the information gleaned from public folders and employees who left the program. Musk fired the Starlink Program Manager last year, four months after SpaceX launched its first two test satellites for Starlink. Musk later blamed the dismissals at SpaceX in January, in part because of Starlink, one of the company's "two absolutely crazy projects."

"SpaceX has to be incredibly spartan with spending until these programs pay off," Musk said in January.

Starlink's technology is a well-kept secret, as competition has grown between at least half a dozen other companies, from Canadian telesat to Amazon newcomer. But over the last few months, SpaceX's Federal Communications Commission archives have helped to better understand the company's plans. The first part of the network will operate on a "very low Earth orbit".

In a letter to the FCC, SpaceX said satellites are now designed to be "completely removable" when they come back and burn up in the earth 's atmosphere. SpaceX said that it meant that there was a "zero risk" that Starlink pieces would hurt anyone on the ground after using satellites. SpaceX also submitted a request this year to operate one million "earth stations" in the United States.

Musk warned in a tweet later that "many things will go wrong" during this first mission.

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