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posted by on Friday May 05 2017, @05:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the wireless-everything dept.

SpaceX today said its planned constellation of 4,425 broadband satellites will launch from the Falcon 9 rocket beginning in 2019 and continue launching in phases until reaching full capacity in 2024.

SpaceX gave the Senate Commerce Committee an update on its satellite plans during a broadband infrastructure hearing this morning via testimony by VP of satellite government affairs Patricia Cooper. Satellite Internet access traditionally suffers from high latency, relatively slow speeds, and strict data caps. But as we reported in November, SpaceX says it intends to solve these problems with custom-designed satellites launched into low-Earth orbits.

SpaceX mentioned 2019 as a possible launch date in an application filed with the Federal Communications Commission in November and offered a more specific launch timeline today.

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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday May 06 2017, @03:06AM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Saturday May 06 2017, @03:06AM (#505290)

    25,000 miles in a shortest path equatorial orbit - 5 miles between satellites, but these things are going to be sweeping up and down about 90 degrees of latitude, too, so we're looking at more like 150 million square miles, or 30,000 square miles per satellite an area of ~175 miles x ~175 miles. Say this "killer satellite" is 10'x10'x10' cube (it's not, but just say), it will occupy 1.2*10-9 % of the sky at a 10' elevation.

    If you just fly through at random, once a day for the next 4 billion years, you'd have about a 3% chance of ever hitting one.

    Although, dwelling at that orbital altitude flying in retrograde direction would not be a smart thing to do without a complete constellation track to plan your route.

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