30,000 satellites is not a typo Elon Musk, rocket man, Tesla man, Hyperloop man, and a highly enthusiastic backer of getting mankind onto Mars, now says that his original plan for his ‘Starlink’ broadband by satellite’ scheme for 12,000 satellites isn’t quite enough.

He is asking the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for permission to launch up to 30,000 additional satellites over and above the 12,000 already approved.

If the ITU gives his application a positive response, then the FCC’s follow-up permission will be fairly
straightforward.

Musk has frequently said that he only needs 1000 or so satellites in orbit to start building a viable system, and he will be ramping up the launch frequency this coming winter. Musk is committed to launching 24 batches of satellites in groups of around 60 per time.

His request for this massive increase in capacity is, he says, so that he can anticipate the growth in demand

He already has 60 ‘Starlink’ satellites in orbit, most of which are working.

Other posts by Chris Forrester:

1. Starlink failure report
2. Kuiper shocks with rival SpaceX bookings
3. Germany’s ISAR planning IPO?
4. South Korea showcases latest satellite
5. Bank trims SES expectations
6. Terran Orbital sues CTO over coup attempt
7. Analyst: Dish bankruptcy “overwhelmingly probable”
8. Huawai confirms satellite mega-constellation
9. Bank downgrades Virgin Galactic

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