SpaceX's Starlink Network Will Take Off In 6 Months, Elon Musk Says

On Wednesday, the official Twitter account of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk released an announcement regarding the launch of the company’s Starlink satellite network which will start in nearly six months. 

According to Business Insider, SpaceX still expects the launch of thousands of more satellites in the nearest time, due to the incomplete of its network.

Some pilot tests will then be the first attempt to examine whether Starlink can provide reliable internet service from space or not. If it could, it would possibly improve the broadband access and stop the digital divide that has been the big problem since social distancing rules were implemented. 

Starlink has constantly been the topic of heated debate among scientists who are concerned about the potential hindrance for astronomers’ research or leaving spacecraft that may be created by the launch of thousands of satellites.

Attempting to reduce the seriousness that has been predicted, SpaceX has changed the altitude at which satellites orbit and cover some coatings to make them “invisible” from the naked eyes.

At the time being, SpaceX has already owned 420 Starlink satellites working in orbit. But in the next ten years, the number is reported to reach 12,000 satellites!

As pointed out in a tweet from Elon Musk, the beta test will only transmit broadband access to several parts of the world due to the limited scale. Nevertheless, no matter how successful the test will be, there will still remain a huge difference between the test and the full network that expected to bring about such glorious results.