Elon Musk shows us the 60 satellites that will one day help power a better internet
The first seeds of SpaceX's Starlink project will soon be planted.
On Saturday, Elon Musk tweeted out a photo of 60 satellites loaded into the fairing, or nose cone, of his company's Falcon rocket. The hardware represents a first step toward completing Starlink, an eventual satellite constellation that will beam high-speed internet down to Earth from space.
The fairing is the same one that carried a Tesla Roadster into space in 2018. Musk included a photo of that as well, just to give his followers a better sense of scale. Where the Roadster barely filled up the bottom portion of the fairing's interior, the satellites look positively crammed in.
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This first set of satellites is expected to take to the skies in the coming days, perhaps as early as Wednesday. Musk warned that there might be issues since this is the first proper Starlink mission following an early 2018 launch that sent two demo satellites skyward.
But there are also many more launches to come. Starlink will ultimately depend on a network consisting of thousands of satellites, but even in its earlier form the eventual constellation will require multiple launches before it's partially operational.
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The dream of high-speed internet delivered from space may be realized by Starlink, but it's going to take a lot of work. SpaceX plans -- and has received Federal Communications Commission approval -- to send almost 12,000 satellites into low orbit where they'll split into three orbital shell-encased clusters arrayed around Earth.
While the long-term project shows great promise, it's also not without risks. Sending that much hardware into orbit -- each fuel-carrying satellite weighs around 900 pounds -- adds to an already risky accumulation of space junk in the immediate vicinity of Earth.
UPDATE: May 13, 2019, 8:26 a.m. EDT An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to the federal agency that granted Starlink approval as the Federal Trade Commission. It is actually the Federal Communications Commission.
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
