- Space’X on May 23, 2019 launched the first 60 members of the company’s Starlink network atop a Falcon 9 rocket.
- The satellites were launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
- These satellites are capable of giving users on the ground high-speed connections to the internet.
- Entrepreneur Elon Musk’s firm aims eventually to loft nearly 12,000 spacecraft for its “Starlink” network.
- SpaceX is not the only commercial space outfits with permission to fly an internet mega-constellation.
- Apart from SpaceX, others include the UK-based start-up OneWeb and Amazon’s Project Kuiper.
- Online retailer Amazon is working on a 3,200-satellite proposal known as Project Kuiper.
- Under these projects, there is plan of flying spacecraft in a low-Earth orbit less than 2,000km above the planet. This will minimise the delay, or latency, in the internet connections.
