Yesterday, December 19, employees of the Starlink satellite Internet service from SpaceX, which is owned by billionaire Elon Musk, officially announced that the project had overcome a significant milestone of one million active subscribers. This is indeed a huge success, especially considering that the satellite Internet service was launched only in 2020. And although initially users were not very active in buying installations and a subscription to a paid service, Starlink has recently been gaining momentum at an impressive pace – back in February of this year, the project had only 250,000 subscribers, and six months later, the number of users exceeded one million.
Moreover, the company said that the service has added as much as 300,000 subscribers in just the past two months – probably due to a significant reduction in subscription prices in Brazil, such an impressive audience growth. Thanks to the fact that satellite Internet has become a little more affordable in regions where the Internet is generally quite expensive, Elon Musk’s company has managed to expand its fan base quite quickly. However, even a million active subscribers will not be enough to recoup the funds invested by the company in placing satellites in Earth orbit.
At the moment, SpaceX has a constellation of satellites, consisting of three thousand (with a small) devices in orbit of our planet. To launch such an impressive number of space satellites, the company had to launch its own Falcon 9 launch vehicle into orbit many times, which, although noticeably cheaper to operate due to the reusable design, the cost of launching Starlink is still impressive (although they are not disclosed). In addition, right now the company is talking about the desire to launch tens of thousands of such satellites into orbit in order to improve coverage and data transfer speed. And although two years ago it seemed like real madness, now the plan looks like a very real undertaking.
But Elon Musk’s company does not plan to stop there either – experts have already noted that on the SpaceX Starship launch vehicle they plan to launch second-generation satellites into space in the foreseeable future (all the necessary certificates and permits have already been received), which will have much more high data transfer rate and the ability to provide cellular services. Probably, in the next year or two, the company will also have its own satellite communications service with worldwide coverage.
Source: Trash Box
Charles Grill is a tech-savvy writer with over 3 years of experience in the field. He writes on a variety of technology-related topics and has a strong focus on the latest advancements in the industry. He is connected with several online news websites and is currently contributing to a technology-focused platform.
