Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg are superstars in the conversations that touch on today"s entrepreneurs in the world of computing and internet advancements. Now we can safely add Elon Musk, the founder of Paypal, SpaceX and Tesla Motors, to that list with his newest endeavor to connect the entire world to the internet.
A $10 billion project to launch 700 satellites into space is currently underway. Confirmed at a SpaceX convention in Seattle yesterday, Musk told Bloomberg Business that his agenda to connect the world is true, and even sees stretching his space internet system all the way to Mars. The space-driven internet service could bring service to even the most isolated parts of the world.
The project is very technical, mostly because launching things into space is both incredibly tough to do at a low cost. Fortunately for Musk, his SpaceX company is equipped to launch satellites into space via rocket launches. With each satellite estimated to weigh around 250 lbs., these internet transmission devices will orbit around Earth at a distance of 750 miles. Musk says that these satellites will provide fast internet connections with modest latency, because light transmits 40% faster in space than through our grounded fiber-optic cable networks, which are only able to offer 1Gbps at best in few markets.
The Mars agenda exists as a branch out opportunity in the event that mankind finds a way to safely populate Mars, offering the ability for future citizens of the fourth planet in our Solar System to send Snapchats of their best reenactments of Total Recall. Though the internet transmissions would be fast, don"t expect anyone to host the next competitive Call of Duty tournament via these satellites - the latency isn"t that good. Musk"s space satellites are expected to be launched in t-minus five years and counting.
Source: The Verge via Bloomberg Business