SpaceX seeking US approval for global satellite internet program

SpaceX, the privateer space company led by Musk [pictured above], is requesting permission from the U.S. government to operate a massive network of 4,425 satellites – plus “in-orbit spares” – to provide high-speed, global internet coverage.

The company has proposed orbiting as many as 4,425 satellites to deliver the services, Reuters reports from the documents.

The constellation is created to offer communications services for users globally, said SpaceX.

Other companies, including Boeing and Samsung, have also explored the possibilities of worldwide internet, and Airbus and Virgin are now partnering on a venture called OneWeb, which seeks to enable affordable internet access by launching their own satellite network.

Still, Elon Musk is pretty tenacious, so if anyone can build a massive global satellite network and bring high-speed internet coverage to the whole globe, it’s him. Unlike Free Basics, however, the SpaceX System is a good five or more years away, and is expected to cost around $10 billion. Google’s Project Loon has a similar plan, albeit involving network-connected balloons, and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic previously made an agreement with OneWeb to invest in and deploy satellites in space.

This summer Boeing also asked the FCC for a license to launch and operate a network of 1,396-2,956 low-flying satellites for internet coverage.

Last month, Musk confirmed the ambitious Mars program undertaken by SpaceX, the company he founded and leads from the front. Elon plans to use optical lasers to communicate between the micro-satellites. Roughly the size of a Mini Cooper, they would weight approximately 850 lbs (386 kg).

If you’re wondering just how many that is, there are now 1,419 active satellites orbiting Earth, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. SpaceX needs regulatory approval from the FCC to use the wireless airwaves that would power this network. They would be launched into low-Earth-orbit, somewhere between 714 and 823 miles from the surface.

After we took a look at SpaceX’s FCC application, though, it seems these won’t be your typical telecommunications satellites. “Subject to additional development work, SpaceX plans to design and manufacture its own satellites, gateway earth stations, and user terminals”. However, if FFC will grant permission and the company being able to launch its prototypes before the end of the year, we will only have a glimpse of the future of global internet access would feel like.