Skip to Content
Computing

SpaceX wants to build up to 1 million Earth satellite internet connections

February 12, 2019

The company just took the next step toward getting satellite internet to customers.

The news: You still need ground-based systems to receive a signal from satellite internet. With SpaceX’s February 1 filing to the US Federal Communications Commission, it’s requesting to deploy up to a million ground stations in the US—including in Alaska, Hawaii, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico—to provide connection points to its internet satellites on behalf of its sister company SpaceX Services.

Go for launch: SpaceX has already received the go-ahead from the FCC on the launch of 4,425 satellites that will make up its Starlink internet constellation. It still hasn’t divulged much information about the service it will offer and where, but it successfully launched two test satellites—called Tintin A and Tintin B—into orbit in February 2018.  

A long way to go: The thousands of satellites will be gradually launched over five years and won't all be in low-Earth orbit until 2024. The company plans to send up the first members of the initial constellation later in 2019. A further 7,500 satellites will—at some point—add additional capacity.

Want to stay up to date on the latest in space technology? Sign up for our space newsletter, The Airlock.

Deep Dive

Computing

Inside the hunt for new physics at the world’s largest particle collider

The Large Hadron Collider hasn’t seen any new particles since the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012. Here’s what researchers are trying to do about it.

Why China is betting big on chiplets

By connecting several less-advanced chips into one, Chinese companies could circumvent the sanctions set by the US government.

How Wi-Fi sensing became usable tech

After a decade of obscurity, the technology is being used to track people’s movements.

VR headsets can be hacked with an Inception-style attack

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.