In November 2014, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk briefly outlined a plan of delivering internet access through a network of 700 satellites.
Now, at an invite-only event at Seattle Center on Friday, Musk further elaborated on that idea -- and revealed why he wants to do it in the first place, Seattle Times reports.
Musk now plans to launch 4,000 geosynchronous satellites in order to deliver high-speed Internet access anywhere in the world. The satellites will be designed by SpaceX's engineers in the company's new office in Redmond.
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Before the event Friday, Musk told Bloomberg that the satellites would orbit 750 miles above Earth. The primary advantage of the system would be the speed with which Internet data packets could travel from satellite to satellite, no longer bound to terrestrial networks.
Back in November, Musk said the satellites would weigh less than 250 pounds, and could be produced at a cost less than $1 million each. He also said in a tweet then we can expect an announcement in "2 to 3 months."
SpaceX is still in the early stages of developing advanced micro-satellites operating in large formations. Announcement in 2 to 3 months.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 11, 2014
According to Musk, it will take at least five years to build the network, and the cost to build it will not be small -- $10 billion.
The bold plan is interesting enough in itself, but the reason why the SpaceX CEO is interested in this endeavor is even more fascinating -- he sees it as a long-term revenue source to pay for a city on Mars.
In 2011, Musk said he'll send humans to Mars within 20 years at most. He outlined an ambitious plan to establish a colony on the Red Planet in 2012, claiming he wants to send up to 80,000 people there.
In the near future, Musk's SpaceX will be ferrying people to a different space destination -- the International Space Station. In Sept. 2014, SpaceX and Boeing were awarded contracts to deliver astronauts to the ISS, starting in 2017.