artificial suns sending energy to the whole planet, just like our natural star has
been doing for billions of years.
Musk also plans to revolutionize the telecommunications sector by making the
Internet accessible everywhere at lower costs. SpaceX has already started launching its Starlink project, a global telecommunication space-based constellation of
42,000 satellites around to the Earth, which aims to conquer 50% of the future
Internet traffic worldwide. Musk has already obtained approval for the satellite
frequencies from the Federal Communications Commission.
65
In November 2020,
SpaceX launched its 100th Falcon 9 rocket carrying the 16th batch of 60 Starlink
satellites, adding another building block to the planned fleet of 12,000 spacecraft
needed to beam broadband connectivity around the world. To this date, SpaceX
has launched 955 satellites, with 895 currently in orbit, and the company has
already begun beta testing the service in the northern US and southern Canada.
66
Perhaps Musk is even planning to connect all his Tesla cars
67
around the world
with Starlink, which could permanently control real-time readings of diagnostic
and mileage data and manage autonomous driving.
The global turnover of wireless telecommunications is expected to exceed $1
trillion in 2021. The connected car market alone, including autonomous-driving
vehicles, is expected to grow from $73 billion in 2017 to $219 billion in 2025,
with an annual growth rate of 15%.
68
Aside from the automotive market, the future
digital economy will depend on the availability of connections and the energy
capacity of devices and networks. According to the Cisco Corporation, connected
users in 2021 will be 4.6 billion –58% of the world population – with an average
of 27 billion connections at an average bandwidth speed of 53 Mbps.
69
It is plausible that Elon Musk and the other entrepreneurs building reusable
space rockets want to claim market shares of this planetary business, which could
become a reality within a single decade. Until a few years ago, the officials of the
most important space agencies were publicly expressing their doubts about the
65
Federal Communications Commission. 2018. Space Exploration Holdings, LLC, Application
for Approval for Orbital Deployment and Operating Authority for the SpaceX NGSO Satellite
System.
FCC-18-38.
https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-authorizes-spacex-providebroadband-satellite-services.
66
https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-12-internet-satellites-launch-webcast.
67
http://www.thedrive.com/tech/20522/tesla-could-use-spacex-starlink-network-to-manage-data-uplinks.
68
Research and Markets. 2018. Connected Car Market 2018 - Global Forecast to 2025.
69
White Paper. 2017. Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2016–2021.
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/visual-networking-indexvni/complete-white-paper-c11-481360.html.
98 Space Economy: A Business On the Launch Pad
been doing for billions of years.
Musk also plans to revolutionize the telecommunications sector by making the
Internet accessible everywhere at lower costs. SpaceX has already started launching its Starlink project, a global telecommunication space-based constellation of
42,000 satellites around to the Earth, which aims to conquer 50% of the future
Internet traffic worldwide. Musk has already obtained approval for the satellite
frequencies from the Federal Communications Commission.
65
In November 2020,
SpaceX launched its 100th Falcon 9 rocket carrying the 16th batch of 60 Starlink
satellites, adding another building block to the planned fleet of 12,000 spacecraft
needed to beam broadband connectivity around the world. To this date, SpaceX
has launched 955 satellites, with 895 currently in orbit, and the company has
already begun beta testing the service in the northern US and southern Canada.
66
Perhaps Musk is even planning to connect all his Tesla cars
67
around the world
with Starlink, which could permanently control real-time readings of diagnostic
and mileage data and manage autonomous driving.
The global turnover of wireless telecommunications is expected to exceed $1
trillion in 2021. The connected car market alone, including autonomous-driving
vehicles, is expected to grow from $73 billion in 2017 to $219 billion in 2025,
with an annual growth rate of 15%.
68
Aside from the automotive market, the future
digital economy will depend on the availability of connections and the energy
capacity of devices and networks. According to the Cisco Corporation, connected
users in 2021 will be 4.6 billion –58% of the world population – with an average
of 27 billion connections at an average bandwidth speed of 53 Mbps.
69
It is plausible that Elon Musk and the other entrepreneurs building reusable
space rockets want to claim market shares of this planetary business, which could
become a reality within a single decade. Until a few years ago, the officials of the
most important space agencies were publicly expressing their doubts about the
65
Federal Communications Commission. 2018. Space Exploration Holdings, LLC, Application
for Approval for Orbital Deployment and Operating Authority for the SpaceX NGSO Satellite
System.
FCC-18-38.
https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-authorizes-spacex-providebroadband-satellite-services.
66
https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-12-internet-satellites-launch-webcast.
67
http://www.thedrive.com/tech/20522/tesla-could-use-spacex-starlink-network-to-manage-data-uplinks.
68
Research and Markets. 2018. Connected Car Market 2018 - Global Forecast to 2025.
69
White Paper. 2017. Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2016–2021.
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/visual-networking-indexvni/complete-white-paper-c11-481360.html.
98 Space Economy: A Business On the Launch Pad