By spackling our skies with thousands of satellites, SpaceX and Amazon want to make high-speed internet available to everyone.
SpaceX’s Starlink has more than 1,000 satellites in orbit and has been beta testing its internet service in select areas of the United States, Canada, and the UK. Amazon’s Kuiper Systems hasn’t deployed any yet, but the company said it plans to launch more than 3,200 satellites.
NEXT STORY:
There are plenty of benefits to this new space race, and some negatives. Let’s unpack it all.
The benefits of satellite internet
In sparsely populated regions, the cost of installing broadband infrastructure is too high for many internet service providers (ISPs) looking to make a profit on subscriptions, so they either ignore them or jack up prices. Read more…
More about Social Good, Amazon, Spacex, Digital Divide, and Science
