SpaceX is experiencing a few days of intense activity after having carried out the first private space tourism mission in history: Inspiration4. This first space tourism mission to orbit the earth has had a great connection with Earth, in addition to recording images that we can see on Netflix in the documentary they are recording in real time. The mission has had a multitude of connections to Earth, and now the Internet in space is going to get even better.
This weekend, Elon Musk has been very active on Twitter. Last Saturday, Musk said that Starlink will soon offer Internet service to all astronauts. In addition, it has announced that Starlink will stop being in beta next October, about two months later than expected.
Starlink will also communicate “outwardly”
The space company SpaceX already has more than 1,000 satellites in orbit to offer the Internet. Hundreds of satellites were launched in the first half of the year, but the shortage of liquid oxygen for fuel has slightly delayed new deployments. They have taken advantage of this time to create new, improved satellites that have dual-function lasers.
These lasers allow satellites to communicate with each other, increasing the speed of service by reducing the number of contacts required with ground stations. The first batch of these satellites has already been successfully deployed and tested, and they will soon be able to be used to offer the Internet to astronauts .
The announcement came after the Inspiration4 astronauts showed what their meal routine was like on board the spacecraft, saying that “They didn’t think they were eating cold pizza in space. Is incredible”. Musk promised them that next time there would be something to heat up the food , as well as “free WiFi.” Later, in a tweet, he confirmed that they would use Ka-band antennas or laser links for Dragon, Starship or other ships in the future once they exceed the height of the clouds.
Yeah We’d use our Ka parabolics or laser links for Dragon, Starship or other spacecraft as soon as they got above cloud level.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 18, 2021
Starlink will increase terminal production
With the exit of Starlink from the beta phase, it would not be surprising if the service began to be available in Spain around that month. However, the waiting list is still long, as SpaceX is having problems restocking the antenna and router kit that it supplies to all users who contract the service. They currently manufacture around 5,000 terminals a month , and the company has already received 500,000 bookings . Of these, only about 100,000 are currently in service, so waiting times can be very long.
Although they now only manufacture 5,000 terminals per month, which are also selling below cost, the company will increase capacity soon, in addition to doing so with a new kit that will be cheaper and faster to manufacture . With it, the dream of having Internet anywhere on the planet is getting closer and closer, even though the price remains very high.