SpaceX Launches 60 More Starlink Satellites

Just four days after successfully launching the first astronauts to ever fly onboard a private, commercial rocket on a mission to the International Space Station, SpaceX successfully launched their 7th Starlink Satellite mission.

The Starlink satellite constellation, when completed, will consist of somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 satellites and will deliver high-speed, low-latency internet to the entire globe from orbit. Starlink is expected to begin offering its service to higher latitudes later this year. As the constellation grows the service area will expand to cover the entire planet.

Because SpaceX manufactures the satellites and the launch company that reuses their boosters, this puts them in a competitive advantage that no other satellite internet company can touch. In March of this year, OneWeb which planned a similar service, launching 650 satellites on board 20 Soyuz rockets filed for bankruptcy after only completing 3 launches and deploying 74 satellites.

The future of One Web remains to be seen.

Blue Origin, a launch company created by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, is also planning a satellite internet company called Kuiper, but it is probably at least 1-2 years away from its first launch at best.

Once SpaceX completes its Starship/Falcon Super-Heavy launch system and puts it into operation, they will be launching Starlink satellites 400 at a time. It doesn't look like anyone stands a chance of beating that.