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Elon Musk has announced that his SpaceX Starlink project, which aims to deliver global broadband service through a satellite constellation, will go live in October — a month later than what was planned.
Musk took to Twitter to confirm that the company received “good feedback” from its Starlink beta 10 users, and that there were now plans to roll out beta 10.1, which beta users can request from this Friday, ahead of an official launch next month.
Beta services are currently operating in 11 different countries.
SpaceX outlined as part of beta services, users can expect to see data speeds vary from 50Mbps to 150Mbps and latency from 20ms to 40ms in “most locations over the next several months” while the Starlink system continues to be enhanced. There will also be brief periods of no connectivity at all, the company added.
The company shipped 100,000 terminals to customers in August. At the time, Musk noted licence approval to provide telco services remained pending in “many more countries”.
In other SpaceX news, the company’s first private crewed mission arrived safely back to Earth on Saturday.
After three days orbiting the Earth at altitudes of 590 kilometres above the Earth’s surface, the Inspiration4 crew splashed down off the coast of Florida at 7:06 pm EDT, 18 September, 2021, in the fully automated Crew Dragon spacecraft.
On board were four crew members: Shift4 Payments founder and CEO Jared Issacman, cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux, geoscientist Sian Proctor, and aerospace employee Chris Sembroski. They each underwent six months of training prior to launch.
During their multi-day journey, the crew carried out scientific research to improve human health on Earth and during future long-duration spaceflights. Some of the research involved measuring movement, sleep, heart rate and rhythm, bloody oxygen, cabin noise, and light intensity.
The Inspiration4 mission also fundraised more than $210 million to help children with cancer at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
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