A pair of SpaceX satellites launching under the guise of a "secondary payload" on a Falcon 9 rocket from California next week may hold the keys to the company's ambitious plans to enter the lucrative communications industry through an internet-beaming constellation.
Two small prototype spacecraft, labeled Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b, are scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Wednesday, according to federal filings obtained by FLORIDA TODAY. If successful, the data they provide will help pave the way for SpaceX's plans to launch nearly 12,000 satellites to low Earth orbit as soon as 2024.
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That program, known as "Starlink" in documents filed last year, aims to beam high-speed internet connectivity back down to Earth from two separate orbits, bypassing the need for complicated on-the-ground infrastructure. Users would gain access to the network through small, laptop-sized terminals.
In a letter addressed to the Federal Communications Commission, SpaceX's vice president of satellite government affairs, Patricia Cooper, confirmed that the two Microsats would hitch rides as payloads secondary to the company's primary mission this weekend – launching PAZ, an Earth observation satellite, for Spain-based Hisdesat.
Source :- wtsp
Sunday, 18 February 2018
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