SpaceX Has Launched More Than 1,000 Starlink Satellites Into Orbit
Now amassing more than 10,000 beta test users.
SpaceX has now launched more than 1,000 satellites into orbit for Starlink.
According to a new filing from Elon Musk‘s company, the staggering amount was reached just recently when it sent another few satellites up into space earlier this month to further its ongoing high-speed Internet project. A public beta test for the service was first announced back in June last year and officially began later in October, and SpaceX says that it has since amassed more than 10,000 users via its $99 USD monthly plan.
While 1,000 satellites may sound like a large amount, CNBC reports that SpaceX had previously been cleared by the Federal Communications Commission to launch a whopping 11,943 satellites, with 4,425 of them to be operating in space by 2024. Currently, the company says that its network is “meeting and exceeding 100/20 megabits per second (“Mbps”) throughput to individual users” with latencies “at or below 31 milliseconds.” For its next step, Starlink is seeking designation as an “Eligible Telecommunications Carrier,” which will give it access to millions of dollars granted from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.
In other tech news, Bloomberg has launched a new vaccine tracker for COVID-19.
