Elon Musk has confirmed that his launch services provider SpaceX is in the early stages of developing microsatellites and said that an announcement would follow in two to three months’ time.
The entrepreneur’s statement, which was posted on his…
Elon Musk has confirmed that his launch services provider SpaceX is in the early stages of developing microsatellites and said that an announcement would follow in two to three months’ time.
The entrepreneur’s statement, which was posted on his personal Twitter account, followed a report in The Wall Street Journal on 7 November which said that Musk had turned his attention to creating a 700-satellite constellation to provide internet access around the world.
Musk was reported to be working with Greg Wyler – the founder of satellite broadband provider O3b and now owner of satellite broadband venture WorldVu – to build microsats weighing less than 115 kilograms each.
Talks were said to have progressed as far as discussing the construction of a factory, and officials in Florida and Colorado were reported to have been approached about building a facility in their states.
Earlier this year SatelliteFinance saw ITU filings which showed that WorldVu was planning to launch a near-polar Ku-band constellation of 20 satellites in 18 planes, half of which would be at an altitude of 950km and half at 800km.
The filings, which were made between late 2012 and December 2013 under the name L5, seek to use the use the spectrum and regulatory scheme originally secured by Skybridge LP, a start-up backed by Alcatel-Lucent that planned to create a global satellite broadband service in the 1990s, but ultimately failed to secure the necessary funding.
Google was understood to be backing that project, but in September Wyler parted company with the technology giant. One of the reasons behind this was reported to be Wyler’s doubts regarding Google’s lack of manufacturing expertise.
Musk has already disrupted the market for launching satellites through SpaceX’s vertically integrated approach and the development of satellites would add another level to that business model.