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The satellites that SpaceX is about to go into Earth orbit could help humanity to some day settle the Moon and Mars.
Thursday, May 23, SpaceX plans to loft the first 60 spacecraft of its future Starlink megacell, which is designed to provide affordable Internet service to people around the world.
But do not wait for a signal right away. Six additional launches with a payload of 60 satellites each will be needed to activate Starlink, and six more are needed for the network to provide "meaningful coverage", founder and CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk said.
Related: How could Living on Mars challenge the colonists (infographic)
First 60 @SpaceX Starlink satellites loaded into Falcon's fairing. Tight fit. pic.twitter.com/gZq8gHg9uKMay 12, 2019
The billionaire entrepreneur said in a conference call with reporters on May 15 that improving Internet access was a "fundamental goodness". But there should also be a lot of money in the business – maybe even up to $ 50 billion a year. SpaceX.
"The total business Internet connectivity figure in the world is in the order of $ 1 trillion [annually]and we think maybe we could access about 3% of that, maybe 5%, "said Musk.
That would give a boost to SpaceX's launch revenue, which amounts to about $ 3 billion a year, Musk added. The extra money could allow SpaceX to do what Musk has repeatedly said as the company's main goal: to help humanity become a multiplanetary species.
"We believe that it is an essential stepping stone towards establishing an autonomous city on Mars and a base on the moon," said Musk. about Starlink. "We believe we can use Starlink revenue to fund Starship."
Spatialship is the reusable 100-space spacecraft SpaceX is developing to transport passengers to the red planet and other far-flung destinations. This spacecraft will be launched on top of a giant rocket called Super Heavy, which will also be reusable, the company said.
SpaceX's Red Planet spacecraft is already in the flight test phase; a reduced prototype called Starhopper recently achieved a brief captive jump in the SpaceX facility in South Texas.
If development continues well, Starship could be on the red planet for the first time by the mid-2020s, said Musk. (A lunar mission could precede this step, the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has booked a world tour aboard Starship, its launch is scheduled for 2023.)
Starlink could eventually reach truly epic proportions, possibly up to 12,000 satellites (while Musk said in his call on Wednesday that economic viability is achievable with a constellation of about 1,000 satellites). To put this in perspective, there are about 2,000 operational satellites in Earth orbit today.
SpaceX will likely have to overcome some competition to achieve Starlink's vision. Other companies are planning their own mega-satellite constellation, including OneWeb and Amazon.
Mike Wall's book on the search for extraterrestrial life, "Over there"(Grand Central Publishing, 2018, illustrated by Karl Tate), is out now. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
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