Elon Musk‘s goal of beaming high-speed internet to remote parts of Earth using orbiting satellites just got a step closer to reality.
SpaceX on Tuesday launched a batch of 60 Starlink satellites, bringing the total number in orbit to more than 700, according to Ars Technica. Musk, SpaceX’s CEO, said this was enough for a public beta.
“Once these satellites reach their target position, we will be able to roll out a fairly wide public beta in northern US & hopefully southern Canada,” he tweeted after the launch.
This beta would include the Detroit metro area and Ann Arbor, Michigan, he said in response to a question.
“Other countries to follow as soon as we receive regulatory approval,” he added.
Deployment of 60 Starlink satellites confirmed pic.twitter.com/x83OvjB4Pa
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 6, 2020
Musk did not say exactly when the satellites were expected to reach their “target position,” and Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told Ars Technica that they might not be in place until February.
Read more: Business Insider
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