Featured Image Source: Starlink render by @ErcXspace via Twitter.

SpaceX is rapidly launching a constellation of thousands of Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit to provide internet globally. The company’s reusable Falcon 9 rocket fleet enables deployments of 120 satellites per month over the course of two rocket launches, each carrying 60 satellites. To date, they have deployed approximately 1,145 satellites to space into an altitude of around 550-kilometers. Overall, the Starlink network will have 12,000 satellites. SpaceX officials said near-global internet coverage could be achieved with 1,440 satellites in low Earth orbit. SpaceX founder Elon Musk said this week that most of the world will have broadband coverage soon –“Most of Earth by end of year, all by next year, then it’s about densifying coverage,” he shared via Twitter.

“Important to note that cellular will always have the advantage in dense urban areas. Satellites are best for low to medium population density areas,” he stated. The company primarily targets to connect rural and remote communities where traditional internet infrastructure is not established or unreliable. Musk had previously said that Starlink will have limited availability in large cities “because the bandwidth per cell is simply not high enough” and that “Starlink will serve the hardest-to-serve customers that telcos [telecommunication companies] otherwise have trouble doing with landlines or even with [...] cell towers,” he said. 

The company already provides broadband service in portions of the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and soon in other countries across Europe, including Germany, France, and Greece by April. SpaceX started to accept service pre-orders via Starlink.com earlier this month at a 'first-come, first-served' basis, given to limited coverage per region. A Twitter user from the U.S. state of Chicago shared his Starlink speed ranged between 77 and 130 Mb/s [megabits per second] to which Musk responded –“Speed will double to ~300Mb/s & latency will drop to ~20ms [milliseconds] later this year,” he said. Latency is the amount of delay it takes for data to travel to and from its destination. The internet speed will increase gradually as more satellites are launched to low Earth orbit.

Speed will double to ~300Mb/s & latency will drop to ~20ms later this year

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2021

Most of Earth by end of year, all by next year, then it’s about densifying coverage.

Important to note that cellular will always have the advantage in dense urban areas.

Satellites are best for low to medium population density areas.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2021

Featured Image Source:  Starlink render by @ErcXspace via Twitter.