So what’s up with Elon Musk?
Some of the newest news about the serial innovator’s multiple tech companies involves his space exploration firm SpaceX, and new funding that may allow the company to pursue broader progress on emerging satellite Internet services.
Reuters reports SpaceX has received $1.9 billion in new funding, for a total valuation of around $46 billion, according to Bloomberg reports.
Some of what SpaceX intends to do with the money, according to industry news, is keep developing its fleet of Starlink satellites, with the aim of providing global Internet to end users.
With current speeds of up to 60 MB per second in beta, SpaceX hopes to eventually accomplish one gig per second with thousands of individual Starlink satellites in low or medium earth orbits.
In some ways, satellite Internet promises to be an attractive alternative to the wired and local options available through today’s dominant carriers Verizon and Comcast, where many consumers suspect the companies of metering and price-gouging in an environment with little market competition.
Successful market penetration would also be a big feather in SpaceX’s cap as the company continues to also make headlines in sending astronauts into space.
“As NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley careened to Earth inside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule on Sunday, the two said that the vehicle truly came ‘alive’ when it plunged through Earth’s atmosphere,” wrote Lorn Grush at The Verge August 5. “The capsule vibrated, jolted, and roared while the surrounding air heated up and scorched the outside of the vehicle — and the astronauts got it all on tape.”
Although Musk’s Tesla company has increased its stock price impressively within the past year, SpaceX is also innovating rapidly, and is going to be making headlines for quite a while.
