From The Washington Post
SpaceX is preparing to hit another orbital milestone with the launch of a pair of experimental satellites on Sunday that are designed to beam an ultrafast, lag-free Internet connection down to Earth.Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2018/02/16/spacex-wants-to-beam-internet-down-to-earth-heres-how-itll-start/?utm_term=.04e430377c7aThe test satellites, dubbed Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b, are a part of a years-long plan by chief executive Elon Musk to create a fleet of orbiting devices to blanket the globe in wireless broadband connectivity. SpaceX ultimately intends to put about 12,000 broadband satellites in low Earth orbit, and Sunday’s payload will mark the company’s first attempt at realizing the dream. The initial satellites in the network are expected to come online next year.
Satellite broadband is already available. But it’s slow, expensive and not really accessible to the masses. The goal of SpaceX and almost a dozen other companies is to deliver fast, reliable Internet access to virtually everyone.
Contemporary satellite broadband is mostly used by companies and organizations that require Internet access in remote environments or in specific scenarios, not residential connectivity. First-responders to a natural disaster, for example, can spend hundreds of dollars a day for a 5 Mbps connection, which they use to coordinate relief efforts. The shipping and aviation industries have also been known to use conventional satellite data services.
Facebook, SpaceX or Google? Who will blanket the Earth in connectivity first?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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