Satellite Internet is the ultimate technology, to bring True Internet access, to the whole world. The interesting thing is, it may succeed where others failed, because SpaceX is interested in using its revenue, to bring people to another World.

SpaceX's Elon Musk dares to go where others failed with space-based web

When Elon Musk's SpaceX heaved two communications satellites aloft last week, he joined a space race that's foiled plenty of other dreamers. Billions of dollars have vanished in the quest to provide internet service from low-earth orbit. Globalstar Inc. and Iridium Communications Inc.

From article, (When Elon Musk's SpaceX heaved two communications satellites aloft last week, he joined a space race that's foiled plenty of other dreamers.

Billions of dollars have vanished in the quest to provide internet service from low-earth orbit. Globalstar Inc. and Iridium Communications Inc. crashed into bankruptcy but are still at it, while another effort folded despite backing from Bill Gates, Boeing Co. and others.

 Rusch said the technical challenges are daunting. Low-earth orbit systems need complex software to run constellations of satellites and sophisticated antennas on the ground to aim at spacecraft zooming from horizon to horizon. Costs quickly overwhelm savings from building smaller gear.

Boeing is seeking approval for 60 satellites, and the FCC last year granted OneWeb permission to serve the U.S. market using 720 satellites authorized by the U.K.

SpaceX's plan calls for 4,425 satellites, but it also has applied for an additional 7,518. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has given his backing to the proposal, making it likely to win the agency's clearance to provide broadband via low-earth orbit.

The planned constellations would far exceed the current number of satellites being operated by all countries, which stood at 1,738 through August of last year, according to a tally kept by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The two satellites launched last week are tests, John Taylor, a SpaceX spokesman, said in an emailed statement. "Even if these satellites work as planned, we still have considerable technical work ahead of us to design and deploy a low-orbit satellite constellation," Taylor said. The system would give people in less-populated areas access to affordable high-speed internet service, Taylor said without providing a price.

Satellites in low-earth trajectories operate 50 to 1,200 miles above Earth and orbit it roughly every 90 minutes. Traditional communications satellites operate much higher, at an altitude of about 22,000 miles and appear to hover in one spot because their orbit takes one day, matching Earth's rotation.

Lower satellites have an advantage in sending and receiving broadband because signals suffer less of the lag time that can interrupt phone conversations and streaming video. As universal broadband has become a more compelling goal, appetite for service by satellites has grown, said Tom Stroup, president of the Satellite Industry Assn., a trade group.

Satellites have become lighter and cheaper, Stroup said. "We're well beyond experimentation," he said. "We're moving into the next generation."

Musk helped change the calculus toward more frequent launches with SpaceX, which reuses rather than discards expensive rockets. As the SpaceX Falcon 9 prepared its Feb. 22 launch of two broadband satellites, Musk tweeted that if successful, they would serve the "least served."

The satellites — carried aloft along with a Spanish payload — are part of an ambitious plan that Musk outlined in remarks in 2015 as he announced an engineering campus in Redmond, Wash., near Seattle. Musk said the system would cost $10 billion to $15 billion to create — maybe more — but once developed, would bring significant revenue to SpaceX and help fund a city on Mars.)

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