Starlink System Two-Thirds Ready to Provide Satellite Internet

SpaceX, the company founded by Elon Musk, has launched a Falcon 9 rocket that delivered another 58 satellites into orbit as part of the Starlink program. This initiative aims to provide global broadband internet access, including to regions with no existing infrastructure.

Approximately nine minutes after launch, the rocket’s first stage successfully landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” platform in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina.

This was the ninth Starlink satellite launch. With this mission, the total number of Starlink microsatellites in orbit has reached 538.

In total, SpaceX plans to deploy 12,000 small satellites. Musk intends to begin offering internet access services once the number of satellites in orbit reaches 800.

SpaceX expects that its satellite internet will become available in the northern United States and Canada as early as 2020, and worldwide by 2021. The total investment in the project is estimated at $10 billion.