Connect with us

Elon Musk Sends First Tweet Via Starlink Internet

Credit: SpaceX

Tweets… in… SPAAAAACE.

Over the last year and change, SpaceX has been launching satellites into the big ol’ darkness of space with the intent of setting up their new Starlink internet service. Starlink would, hopefully, beam strong, all-encompassing internet service to the entire planet. No more waving your phone around for bars like a dork.

While the array is far from finished, enough satellites have been put into orbit to facilitate some basic internet functionality. As the first public test, SpaceX’s prolific CEO, Elon Musk, decided to try sending a Tweet through Starlink.

So yeah, it worked! Musk sent a tweet through space and the world received it. So does this mean Starlink is almost ready? Ha, no. There’s around 60 Starlink satellites in orbit right now, but SpaceX is going to need to hurl another 340 up there to even get “minor” coverage going, to say nothing of the extensive, worldwide coverage they’re shooting for. They’ve currently got approval to launch up to 12,000 satellites and are trying to get more approved, but actually getting them up there is going to take a while.

SpaceX will need to be swift about this, because they’re not the only ones in the game, either. Amazon and OneWeb both have satellite broadband plans of their own in the works, with the latter having already launched a few into orbit. Whoever wins the internet space-race first could be the face of a worldwide game-changer.

Connect