StarLink
When you hear the name of Elon Musk, chances are that you might think of his electric vehicle company Tesla. Now, his space-exploration venture SpaceX is ready to revolutionize space technology. Starlink is a part of SpaceX company and it aims to provide satellite internet services to almost every part of the earth. SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, is all set to launch satellites into orbit. His promise to deliver high-speed broadband internet to as many people as possible is finally seeing the day of light.
Starlink is also the name of the spaceflight company’s growing network. The development of the spaceflight network began in 2015. However, the first prototype satellites were launched into orbit in 2018.
Since then, SpaceX has deployed over 1,000 Starlink satellites into orbit. It has had dozens of successful launches. In January, for its first Starlink mission of 2021, SpaceX launched 60 satellites into orbit from Kennedy Space Center. On May 26, the most recent launch was done. It consisted of another 60 satellites into orbit and it has brought the total number of satellites in the constellation up to 1,737
On Monday, SpaceX registered its business in India. The company documents filed with the government showed that as it gears up to launch internet services in the country. In a LinkedIn post, Sanjay Bhargava, country director for Starlink in India, wrote, “Pleased to share that SpaceX now has a 100 percent owned subsidiary in India.”
In India, Starlink targets to “carry on the business of telecommunication services” including satellite broadband internet services. According to the company filing, it will offer other services as content storage and streaming, multimedia communication. Also, it will also deal in devices such as satellite phones, network equipment, wired and wireless communication devices, as well as data transmission and reception equipment.
Starlink is one of a growing number of companies launching small satellites as part of a low-Earth orbiting network. It aims to provide low-latency broadband internet services around the world. Especially, it has a particular focus on remote areas that terrestrial internet infrastructure gets inaccessible. The competitors of Starlink are:
Starlink has already claimed that it has received 5,000 pre-orders in India. It is charging Rs.7,350 per customer. The company claims to deliver data speeds in the range of 50 to 150 megabits per second in the beta stage.
Well! What can we say? It’s just the beginning for Starlink in India.