Wherever we go, we want to be able to ‘check-in’ to Facebook, be able to tweet, or just check our mail. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors wants the same for space. He recently announced at the SpaceX event in Seattle that he is working on an ambitious plan to set up satellite internet. SpaceX is his rocket company, which has a contract to supply and restock the International Space Station. This unnamed Space Internet venture could one day stretch all the way to Mars and could cost $10 million to pull off.
This unbelievable plan would use hundreds of satellites placed 750 miles above the Earth, far lower than existing communication satellites. Doing this would speed up the transfer of data and give better coverage to three billion people who do not have it. The speed would be similar to that of fiber optic cables on land, even considering the distance the data has to travel between the satellites and Earth. “The speed of light is 40 percent faster in the vacuum of space than it is for fiber. The long-term potential is to be the primary means of long-distance internet traffic and to serve people in sparsely populated areas. Our focus is on creating a global communications system that would be larger than anything that has been talked about to date,” Elon explained.
Musk announced that he will have 60 people working on the space Internet project initially which could rise to 1,000 in a few years. He said, “It will be important for Mars to have a global communications network as well. I think this needs to be done, and I don’t see anyone else doing it.”
Knowing Elon Musk, we all know the question isn’t if he’s going to be able to pull it off but rather when will he be pulling this amazing feat off. Watch the video below and share your views in the comments section!
