Elon Musk, the patron saint of science fiction nerds, the mind behind SpaceX and Tesla as well as cheap flamethrowers, self-landing rockets and other technological toys, revealed an even more audacious plan: free (or very cheap) super-fast, worldwide internet.
Since early 2015, Musk hatched his plan of launching almost 12,000 satellites into orbit around Earth, now unofficially dubbed Starlink. These 12,000 satellites equate to almost three times the amount currently in orbit, which is around 1,700 active and 2,900 inactive satellites, as stated by Pixalytics Ltd. If you are thinking this plan sounds expensive, it is because it is.
According to Cecilia Kang of The Washington Post, Google and Fidelity invested $1 billion into the project in 2015, obviously hoping to get in on the action–and later on the payout. SpaceX believes a market of this kind, one offering global, 1-gigabit-per-second internet, could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Who better to partner with than a company like Google, which billions of people use every day?
Although current high-speed internet connections focus on the use of fiber optics, such as the grids Google is constructing in cities around the U.S., Musk believes wireless connections are the future. By deploying around 4,500 satellites into high-earth orbit and around 7,500 into low-earth orbit, SpaceX will create a web of connections enveloping the entire planet. This means someone sitting in a Starbucks in New York City would have the same high-speed connection as a person living in a one-story brick hut in rural Zambia.
The way to access it, of course, will be dependent on SpaceX. According to Dan Mosher of Business Insider, SpaceX’s vice president of satellite government affairs, Patricia Cooper, SpaceX will construct laptop-like devices which will cost between $100 and $300, and will be capable of accessing the satellite web, which in turn “will enable seamless network management and continuity of service.” Musk is a philanthropist, no doubt about it, but he is also a businessman, and he has to fund his project somehow.
By restricting access to the SpaceX network to only devices produced by his company, Musk both creates and corners a market in one fell swoop. Of course, if we reach this point, we will have to see if it stands in domestic and international courts, or whether the courts decide Musk and SpaceX amassed too much power and influence.
The effects of this ideal, which on the surface seem entirely beneficial, will have far-reaching effects into every nook and cranny of our lives. The potential for complete access to information in countries such as China and North Korea could have devastating effects on the ruling parties. The resulting chaos could make the Arab Spring look like a day at the park. Which begs the question, how will this plan be received internationally?
Although Musk has dealt with the FCC for approval to launch his satellites, there was very little discussion otherwise concerning the socio-political effects of his plan. Even though the Soviet Bloc dissolved almost 30 years ago, it is not hard to see we are still constantly at odds with Russia and their allies. How do you think they would feel about an American company putting 12,000 new satellites into space, regardless of the purpose?
Furthermore, we have to look at how SpaceX implements this plan on an international scale. Although the stated goal is to bring internet to the billions of people without access, how feasible is this goal? First, you have to consider the few billion people who could never hope to afford a $100 laptop with a SpaceX satellite connection. For the other remaining billion not connected to the internet, there is a very good reason for it. Their government purposely controls their access to information in order to maintain their vice-like grip on the minds of their population. The flood of information Musk is proposing is not just revolutionary, but to them, it is downright dangerous.
Take the Chinese for example. The one-party Chinese government, headed by Xi Jinping (who is now capable of ruling indefinitely) does not allow access to a number of websites, including Google and Facebook. For Musk’s plan to be implemented there, it would have to undergo a slew of new regulations and restrictions. This holds true for a number of other countries as well, such as North Korea or Libya, where a failed media blackout only ignited further tensions.
According to Bloomberg News in association with The Washington Post, Musk’s plan is bold, but still economically feasible. If he gets the investors, which I know he will, he can put those satellites into space and make information barriers a thing of the past.
The question I cannot seem to answer is how it will play out on the international scale. Sure, implementation will go smoothly in the U.S., Canada and western Europe, where SpaceX will conform to their respective internet regulatory bodies, but what about in East Asia, North Africa and Russia, where the internet blockade is not necessarily due to economics? We will have to wait and see.