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The visitor observation gantry of the Kennedy Space Center is complete. Wednesday night, SpaceX must launch a Falcon 9 rocket … again. But at the third launch of this rocket, it is only the master of ceremonies, not the star of the show.
If all goes as planned, an hour and two minutes after taking off from a Florida launch pad in the United States, SpaceX's 60 Starlink satellites will unfold themselves and begin their journey towards their eventual orbit around the earth. With the exception of all the hiccups, these satellites will propel the company and its colorful founder, Elon Musk, to a strong leadership position in the race for the provision of high-speed satellite Internet, pole-to-pole .
Half of the world's population
According to the World Bank, about half of the world's population, about 4 billion people, still do not have access to the Internet. Their connection is potentially expensive and technically difficult because many people without Internet access live in low-income, rural or remote areas.
The launch of SpaceX Starlink on Wednesday is a major step towards reducing the cost of providing fast broadband services to half of the world's underserved or unconnected global population.
While the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has already licensed the operation of 4,425 Starlink satellites, SpaceX's long-term goal is to create a network of approximately 12,000 satellites in very low orbit around the Earth, creating a mega-constellation of aerospace equipment.
The World Bank said the digital economy accounted for just under a quarter of the world's gross domestic product – with only half of the potential market still able to participate.
When Musk opened Spacemond's office in Redmond, Washington, in 2015, he told Bloomberg Businessweek: "The speed of light is 40% faster in the void of space only in the case of fiber.The long-term potential is to be the primary means of communication over long distances.Internet and serve the inhabitants of sparsely populated areas.
So how is SpaceX doing it?
The architecture of SpaceX has not been proven, but that's why the launch of Wednesday is planned. If satellite design works, it could be revolutionary.
Musk tweeted an image of the loaded fairing with 60 satellites, its panels, thrusters, solar panels and high-speed antennas waiting to take off.
First 60 @SpaceX Starlink satellites loaded into the Falcon fairing. Tight fit. pic.twitter.com/gZq8gHg9uK
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2019
What will push others into the race for high-speed Internet satellite, is the design of satellites at the end of life. SpaceX boasts that once the Starlink satellite reaches the end of its life cycle and leaves its orbit, 95% of all its components will be immediately burned into the atmosphere.
Some observers see this redesign as a response to OneWeb, a direct competitor of Starlink and a frequent critic of SpaceX.
OneWeb, an Airbus partner, has publicly criticized the first two Starlink satellite prototypes, launched last year. Google, LeoSat Enterprises and Blue Origin are also competitors of SpaceX, with their respective companies. broadband satellite projects at different stages of development.
Apparently, SpaceX hopes that the remaining five percent of this new Starlink design will burn completely before reaching the surface of the Earth. All satellite operators must submit and receive approval for their end-of-life disposal plans before receiving a license from the FCC.
Abolish expectations
Last week at Satellite 2019, Gwynne Shotwell, President and Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX, warned supporters as critics that this lot of satellites was considered a test because this design is a prototype, a lite version of this who is coming.
"We are starting to launch the satellites for effective service later this year," she said.[and] I would not be surprised if we had two to six launches at the end of the year from Starlink. It depends on what we do with this first batch. "
On Saturday, Musk tweeted, "A lot of things will go wrong on the first mission, and six more launches of 60 sats are needed for minor coverage, 12 for moderates."
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