SpaceX Founder May Be Looking To Build Low-Cost Internet Satellite Fleet

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Having already launched ventures to change the space travel and electric automobile industries, billionaire Elon Musk is now turning his attention to developing smaller, less-expensive satellites that can deliver Internet access to those currently unable to get online.
According to Rolfe Winkler and Andy Pasztor of The Wall Street Journal, sources said that Musk will be collaborating with former Google executive and WorldVu Satellites founder Greg Wyler. The duo has reportedly discussed launching a fleet of approximately 700 satellites, each of which will weigh less than 250 pounds.
“That is about half the size of the smallest communications satellites now in commercial use,” Winkler and Pasztor said, and the satellite network would be “10 times the size of the largest current fleet, managed by Iridium Communications. To be sure, the venture would face large financial, technical and regulatory hurdles, and industry officials estimate that it would cost $1 billion or more to develop the project.”
The sources emphasized to The Wall Street Journal that the project is currently in its formative stages, and that it is not certain if Musk will be an active participant. However, he and Wyler are said to be considering building a factory to make satellites, and have apparently already had some discussions with officials in Florida and Colorado regarding the factory. WorldVu is also said to be looking to recruit a partner in the satellite industry.
Musk is apparently looking to invest $1 billion in the venture, according to The Guardian’s Chris Johnston, and his SpaceX space transportation company could be used to launch the satellites into orbit once they are completed. Johnston said that the goal is to manufacture the probes for less than $1 million each, far less than it currently costs.
“Wyler had been working with the Google-backed startup O3b Networks, and in June it was reported that the search giant planned to spend $1 billion on 180 small, high-capacity satellites,” Johnston wrote. “The first four satellites launched by O3b were beset by technical problems, and Wyler quit Google after a year to join forces with Musk.” He added that the venture “would face considerable technical and regulatory hurdles.”
Likewise, CNET staff writer Nick Statt said that the “risks are high.” However, he explained that Wyler’s WorldVu Satellites “controls a significant chunk of radio spectrum,” and that the potential partnership “would bring together Wyler’s expertise and spectrum advantage with Musk’s entrepreneurial ability to overcome financial and logistical hurdles.”
The high cost of building satellites and the limited use of their capabilities have hampered previous efforts to deliver Internet and telephone service from orbit, Winkler and Pasztor said. Iridium, for example, was forced to file for bankruptcy protection nine months after launching in 1998 due to the inability to attract customers willing to pay a reported $3,000 for a phone and as much as $7 per minute to place phone calls.
“Other, less expensive ways of bringing internet access to remote areas are being considered,” noted Johnston. “Facebook has a team working on solar-powered drones that would fly at a height of 20,000 meters – around the same height that Google has proposed placing balloons with a similar aim.”
—–
Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.