SpaceX will expand its Starlink network to include 7,500 new satellites. The company had asked permission to launch thirty thousand artificial moons, but the US regulator FCC did not want to go that far.
The Starlink network now consists of 3,177 satellites. There will be an additional 7,500 satellites in the near future. SpaceX is currently launching a cargo of about fifty artificial moons almost every week.
Through the Starlink network, customers can connect to the internet from virtually anywhere in the world. The speeds are comparable to fixed broadband internet connections in the Netherlands.
Expansion is needed to make the network even faster and to be able to serve more users. The Starlink network had around 700,000 users worldwide in september.
The new satellites will be placed in a fairly low Earth orbit at an altitude of about 330 kilometers. This is a new generation of satellites. These are also suitable for processing mobile phone traffic.
The new Apple iPhone 14 can already send emergency messages via satellites. For this, Apple does not use Starlink, but Globalstar’s satellite network.
