On Saturday, SpaceX passed the magic number — 800 — and promptly started a beta test.

 

Elon Musk is opening up beta version for Starlink satellite internet networks.

 

SpaceX informed trial customers of its broadband internet service Starlink in an email that obviously went out on Monday that it would:

 

·         Running from an estimated 50 megabits per second (Mbps) to 150 Mbps (with 'brief no communication times at all'),

·         There is no delay of more than 40 milliseconds, and probably as little as 20 ms (if it operates at all),

·         Impose no caps on the results, and

·         Hardware (a terminal, antenna, and router) costs $499, and subscription costs $99 a month.

 

Granted, 50 Mbps does not sound very fast , especially at $99 a month, when Comcast is going to give you 200 Mbps for less than $50. And the "brief no connectivity times" bit sounds disconcerting. But even the beta edition of Starlink is "better than nothing" as SpaceX drolly explains the operation. And with time, as SpaceX brings more and more Starlink satellites in orbit, the organisation could scale up its speeds to 1 gigabyte per second or higher, and theoretically charge as little as $80 per month.

 

And speaking about satellites ...

By the way, it 's certainly no accident that SpaceX chose to carry out its test edition of Starlink this week. Patricia Cooper, SpaceX vice president of satellite government affairs, told Congress in 2017 that SpaceX intended to start offering commercial satellite internet access until it had at least 800 satellites in orbit, and estimated that the company would reach this aim "in the period of 2020, 2021."

 

And right on time, SpaceX launched its "v1.0 L14" spacecraft on Oct. 24, taking into orbit its new batch of 60 first-generation Starlink satellites. SpaceX crossed two benchmarks in doing so. First, L14 marked the 100th active rocket launch for the company.

 

So far, SpaceX has successfully launched 95 Falcon 9 rockets, as well as three Falcon Strong rockets and two of its concept Falcon 1s. That was pretty good news. The bad news is that, when studying the ropes of space launch , the company lost three Falcon 1s along the way, saw one Falcon 9 burst in flight, and lost another in an on-ground fueling attempt).

 

And second, SpaceX surpassed the mark for "moderate" internet penetration by adding 60 satellites this week to the 750 or so claimed to still be operational.

 

The Starlink beta email was sent out as soon as that happened.

 

What comes next?

 

There is work yet to be completed. In reality, SpaceX's plans for Starlink's 'initial launch' envisage a total of 1,500 or so operating satellites to access the globe's maximum coverage, reports NASASpaceflight.com. The organisation ultimately aims to bring 12,000 satellites into orbit — and maybe as many as 42,000!

 

In order to prove to the FCC that it is meeting its 1 Gbps target and maintaining its lag time well below 100 milliseconds, SpaceX would also want to continue putting its beta testers through their paces, collecting feedback on overall internet download speeds and data latency rates. These are the two main metrics SpaceX wants to meet in order to gain part of FCC funding valued at $16 billion to $ 20 billion to subsidise broadband internet access to remote areas in America.

 

The opening of the beta service should also fulfil the twin goals of (1) starting to raise revenue to finance the development and deployment of ever more Starlink satellites, and (2) enhancing the chances of SpaceX winning the bid for the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.

 

Yet the ultimate goals of SpaceX are much greater. As Starlink branches out and expands across the U.S. and across the globe (Starlink's ground stations' licences have now been filed in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and France), SpaceX expects what it claims to be an immense annual sales growth market worth as much as $30 billion—and operating profit margins as large as 60%.

 

It all starts with a beta test, though — and the beta test has started now!