SpaceX just asked permission to launch 4,425 satellites — more than orbit Earth today


SpaceX plans to deliver worldwide internet with 4,425 satellites SpaceX, the aerospace company founded by the Mars-hungry tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, just made a big move to envelop the Earth in high-speed internet coverage. On Tuesday, the company filed a lengthy application with the Federal Communications Commission to launch 4,425 satellites. "With deployment of the first 800 satellites, SpaceX will be able to provide widespread U.S. and international coverage for broadband services," SpaceX wrote. "Once fully optimized through the Final Deployment, the system will be able to provide high bandwidth (up to 1 Gbps per user), low latency broadband services for consumers and businesses in the U.S. and globally." At the time, Musk said during a SpaceX event: "The focus is going to be on creating a global communications system. This is quite an ambitious effort. We're really talking about something which is, in the long term, like rebuilding the Internet in space. The goal will be to have the majority of long distance Internet traffic go over this network and about 10% of local consumer and business traffic." The most interesting aspect for me is that this likely crosses all geographic boundaries as this is technically in "space". Many countries with severe restrictions on access to the Internet won't be too happy with this. See http://ift.tt/2fYJgco

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