Elon Musk's company SpaceX is in final preparations hours before launching 60 Starlink satellites into Low Earth Orbit. If successful, the Monday launch, scheduled for 9:19pm. EST (02:19 GMT) will break the record for the number of in-orbit satellites owned by one company, and ultimately boost global internet access.
Musk's plans for the United States-based SpaceX Starlink project is to make broadband communications, which carry the internet, accessible across the globe, from pole to pole.
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Planet, an earth-imagery company headquartered in San Francisco, California, currently holds the title of operating the most commercially-owned satellites in orbit, with a total of "about 140". That's set to change.
With this launch, SpaceX's satellite broadband project Starlink will snatch the banner by operating 180, a satellite mega-constellation. This will be the third Starlink launch since May and will create an even bigger lead between SpaceX and its closest competitors in the still-nascent satellite broadband sector.
Potential impact
Roughly half of the world's population, some four billion people, still lack access to the internet, according to the World Bank. Connecting them is potentially costly and technically challenging because many of the people who do not have internet access live in low-income, rural or secluded areas or face other technical challenges.
"Starlink and the other mega-constellations are potentially disruptive," David Bain, Vice President of Standards for the Telecommunications Industry Association, told Al Jazeera.
"I am intrigued by the potential of [satellite] mega-constellations to enable the free flow of information in countries that simply don't have enough bandwidth, or have central governments or operators that block and throttle services like Facebook, LinkedIn, Skype, WhatsApp, Google, et al."
The World Bank has said the digital economy is responsible for just under a quarter of the global gross domestic product.
The launch schedule
In 2019, SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, California, performed a total of 13 launches, or roughly one launch a month. After tonight SpaceX plans to launch three more missions this month - two more taking Starlink payloads, and another testing its Crew Dragon capsule, which has been designed to transport astronauts to and from Low Eart Orbit, on Friday, weather permitting.
Monday night's launch marks another first: the US Space Force's inaugural launch support mission. In December the Cape Canaveral-based 45th Space Wing was reassigned to the US Space Force, the US military's sixth and newest branch.
It is also notable that the Falcon 9 rocket that SpaceX is using tonight will be blasting off on its fourth trip up and then back to Earth, touching down on the landing barge, named Of Course I Still Love You.
Just the beginning
The combination of firsts and technical feats would lead anyone to believe that Monday night's launch is exceptional. In actuality, this is only the beginning.
The US Federal Communications Commission has granted Musk permission to operate 12,000 Starlink satellites. In October the International Telecommunication Union confirmed Musk is seeking approval for a mega-mega-constellation - an additional 30,000 broadband carrying satellites.
SpaceX's nearest competition, OneWeb, has six broadband satellites and plans to launch 30 by the end of January. Google, LeoSat Enterprises, and Jeff Bezos's Project Kuiper are all in earlier stages of development.
"We know that reaching unconnected communities will require a combination of technologies and strategies and these new entrants are perfectly poised to be part of the solution," Brian Dietz, Senior Vice President for Strategic Communications for NCTA - Internet & Television Association, told Al Jazeera.
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January 07, 2020 at 04:35AM
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Elon Musk to break record for most satellites in space - Aljazeera.com
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