Elon Musk’s SpaceX firm has just successfully launched a new salvo of 22 satellites into low orbit. 6,000 are now operational providing Internet services in 70 countries.
The SpaceX group managed to launch 22 new Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit from the Cape Canaveral space station in Florida. The satellites left Earth aboard SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 rocket.
Starlink is a gigantic satellite system aimed at providing high-speed internet connection to the most isolated regions on Earth.
Satellites are launched into orbit in batches, with each batch containing between 15 and 56 satellites. At the start of 2024, there were already almost 6,000 of these satellites in orbit. Ultimately, Elon Musk’s company plans to build a massive constellation of some 12,000 satellites.
A technological success… and commercial. Starlink now claims three million subscribers worldwide compared to two million customers in 2023.