Data map: On February 27, 2023, the SpaceX “Falcon 9” rocket carrying 21 second-generation Starlink satellites launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA. The “Kennedy Space Center” took off, and many people were watching the rocket launch. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
[The Epoch Times, November 12, 2023](Comprehensive report by Epoch Times reporter Li Yan) American billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX is famous for its frequent rocket launches and currently dominates the aerospace industry. . But satellites launched into space by rocket are equally important to the company.
Starlink is SpaceX’s solution for providing high-speed network coverage to the world. It is located in the low-Earth orbit (LEO) region about 342 miles above the Earth’s surface and consists of thousands of satellites.
Experts say that Starlink’s growth rate is unusual for its current size and is bringing significant revenue to SpaceX.
SpaceX launched the first batch of Starlink satellites in 2019. Since then, its users have surged. Starlink currently has more than 2 million active customers, covering seven continents and more than 60 countries, the company said.
CNBC reported that Brent Prokosh, senior affiliate consultant at Euroconsult, said that this growth is unusual in scale. It took previous satellite service providers ten years to add at most 500,000 to more than 1 million subscribers. “It only took two years for Starlink to compete for 2 million users.”
The importance of Starlink to the entire SpaceX company is also unstoppable. “Euroconsult optimistically estimates that by the end of 2023, Starlink’s business may account for more than 40% of SpaceX’s overall business.” Prokosh said, “Starlink’s total revenue will exceed US$3 billion.”
SpaceX expects Starlink’s revenue to surpass the rocket launch business in 2024 and become SpaceX’s main source of income. In addition to satellite networks and launching commercial recovery rockets, SpaceX also signed an agreement with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) and perform supply missions.
Starlink services were initially targeted at the consumer sector, but have now expanded to serve enterprise customers, including the shipping and aviation industries. Starlink is also favored because of its wide coverage, such as those remote areas of the world without access to traditional Internet; areas hit by natural disasters, and during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the service has become increasingly indispensable.
Kari Bingen, director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that the biggest benefit of Starlink is its ability to provide communications services to Ukrainians during the Russia-Ukraine war.
“It provides a way for the military and civilians to stay connected to the outside world, it provides a way for the military to communicate with each other and it provides command and control direction for their forces,” he said.
Editor in charge: Li Yuan#
2023-11-11 22:18:19
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