Elon Musk always thinks a step ahead of others when it comes to technology. And that is one of the reasons why the tech expert has already launched Starlink constellation through his company, SpaceX. On October 22, the founder also tweeted a post that indicated the success of the Starlink constellation's placement in the orbit. Now, in a media roundtable organized by company President Gwynne Shotwell, it has been revealed that SpaceX is planning to provide Starlink broadband to US customers by mid-2020. As reported by Space News, while the company has already placed Starlink constellation in the orbit successfully, the broadband service will require the company to launch another six to eight batches of satellites. The additional satellites will ensure continuous service in upper and lower latitude bands.
“We need 24 launches to get global coverage,” she said, adding, “Every launch after that gives you more capacity.” Not just this, Gwynne also clarified that the SpaceX will require finishing the design and engineering of the user terminals before taking further steps. She added that a number of the Starlink features are being tested by the US Air Force Research Laboratory for now. This is being conducted under a program called Global Lightning. A few days back, SpaceX stirred a controversy after it raised a request to the International Telecommunication Union to approve spectrum for 30,000 additional Starlink satellites. However, Gwynne has clarified that the company will not require that many satellites.
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