SpaceX is working towards a high-speed internet service based on its Starlink satellite constellation and it looks like the company is a step closer towards its goal, having procured a key government license last week for the same.
SpaceX has been authorised by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deploy as many as 1 million ground based antennas to make its Starlink satellite network work.
The antennas will work in sync with close to 12,000 mini satellites to be put in the orbit by SpaceX in the coming years. Within the past year, SpaceX launched 360 of such Starlink satellites.
As per the license offered by the FCC, the antennas will be 48 cm in diameter and under 19 inches across. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk mentioned that the company has worked towards making the antennas easy to install, with just two instructions to be followed in any order - ¡°Point at sky, plug in.¡±
Like a ¡°UFO on a stick,¡± the antennas mark the next step in SpaceX¡¯s ambition to provide high speed internet connectivity to the rurals areas in the world. The idea is to have a latency below 20 milliseconds.
The concept of Starlink It is not unique though. Others in the field have tried such a model and as per Musk, have always gone ¡°bankrupt¡±.
So instead of focussing on how to mint money from the Starlink in the time to come, the company is right now focussing on being ¡°in the ¡®not bankrupt¡¯ category,¡± Musk confirmed.