Elon Musk: Here are SpaceX's first 60 Starlink internet-beaming satellites

[The AchieVer]

Elon Musk: Here are SpaceX's first 60 Starlink internet-beaming satellites

SpaceX takes a small step towards low Earth orbit satellite internet.

 

 

 

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has used Twitter to tease the imminent launch of the first batch of low Earth orbit satellites for providing broadband to humans across the planet.     

 

Musk is betting that his SpaceX Starlink constellation of around 12,000 satellites will be able to deliver high-speed internet to people at an affordable price.   

 

Musk on Sunday showed off images of some of the first 60 satellites that SpaceX will launch into space this week, probably on Wednesday, inside a Falcon 9 rocket.  

 

Musk has predicted the network will be able to go live in the mid-2020s once about 800 satellites have been launched. The network will eventually consist of around 12,000 satellites that would deliver 1Gbps speeds to users on Earth.

 

In April, US regulator the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved SpaceX's plan to launch 4,409 Starlink satellites with 1,584 orbiting at an altitude of 550km rather than the previous request of 1,150km. The FCC also approved over 7,000 additional Starlink satellites in November.   

 

Musk noted that the 60 satellites to be launched this week are "production design", unlike its Tintin A and B demo satellites that were launched early last year. 

 

The plan is that thousands of small satellites will form a mesh network that will use V band,which covers 40GHz to 75GHz, to connect with each other. They'll use Ka/Ku radio bands to deliver internet to receivers on Earth.

 

Other firms in the broadband space race include Kepler, Telesat Canada, LeoSat, and Amazon CEO's Blue Origin.

 

Musk warned that "much will likely go wrong" on the first mission and that for "moderate" coverage, SpaceX would need 12 successful missions with about 60 satellites each to total 760 satellites. 

 

This week's launch won't become part of the actual Starlink mesh network. While the 60 satellites are production design, as Spacenews reports, SpaceX's president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell last week said they were still demonstration satellites that are missing the equipment to link up as a mesh network. 

 

Amazon is currently known to be planning to put 3,236 internet-beaming satellites into low Earth orbit, with 784 at 367 miles (590km), 1,296 at 379 miles (610km), and 1,156 at 391 miles (630km). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source

[Ha91]

Either Musk's or author's math is terrible: 

 

" SpaceX would need 12 successful missions with about 60 satellites each to total 760 satellites. " A fifth grader can tell that 60 times 12 is 720 😛 I am sure that this is why the author is writing and Musk is earning billions and flying rockets 😛 

[Karlston]

6 hours ago, Ha91 said:

Either Musk's or author's math is terrible:

 

It does say "about 60 satellites each".

 

760 satellites from 12 missions averages just over 63 satellites per mission, so "about 60" seems reasonable.

[Ha91]

Nope not even then because it says an average mission has an average payload of 60 and there are 12 missions. It says so in the article. 

On 5/13/2019 at 6:29 PM, The AchieVer said:

Musk noted that the 60 satellites to be launched this week are "production design",

 

 

On 5/13/2019 at 6:29 PM, The AchieVer said:

SpaceX would need 12 successful missions with about 60 satellites each to total 760 satellites.

 

So let's add it up. 

12 x 60 = 720 

 

The question is that where do those 3 extra satellites per mission come from? It's not mentioned in the article 😛 

I'll say it again: 

 

It's probably a blunder on part of the editor and not Musk because clearly latter is a billionaire and running a company that has pioneered reusable long-term rockets and aims to settle humans on Mars and beyond. The editor is just tired of his small paychecks and repetitive life - it seems 😆