NAME : Joruss Martin R.

Bautista SECTION: 9-Dalton DATE: October 18,2019

SpaceX may want to launch 42,000 internet

satellites — about 5 times more spacecraft than
humanity has ever flown
https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-internet-satellites-itc-filing-30000-additional-42000-
total-2019-10

 SpaceX wants to surround Earth with a fleet of internet satellites called Starlink.
Original plans called for launching nearly 12,000 satellites over the next 8 years or
so.
 However, Space News reports that SpaceX has asked to launch 30,000 more
satellites for a maximum of 42,000. That's about 20 times the number of working
satellites today and nearly five times the total of all spacecraft humanity has ever
launched since 1957.
 Elon Musk, the rocket company's founder, has said he hopes Starlink will get rural
and remote regions of Earth online with affordable high-speed web access.
 Launching a bunch of satellites increases the risk of collisions and space debris. In
early September, SpaceX experienced a close call between one of its first 60 Starlink
satellites and a European spacecraft.
 Amazon, which is working toward a Kuiper System internet constellation, recently
told the FCC that if one in 20 satellites loses its ability to dodge debris or satellites,
there'd be about a 6% chance of collision.
 Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
If SpaceX gets the go-ahead, the company's planned fleet of Starlink internet
satellites could soon outnumber all the spacecraft humanity has ever launched by
nearly five-to-one.

That's according to Caleb Henry at Space News, who on Tuesday reported that
SpaceX, founded by tech mogul Elon Musk, now seeks permission from the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to fly an additional 30,000 Starlink
satellites into space. Those tens of thousands would be additional to the nearly
12,000 spacecraft that SpaceX asked permission to launch from the US Federal
Communications Commission (FCC).

Put together, this suggests SpaceX now seeks to fly a maximum of 42,000 Starlink
satellites.

That figure is striking if it comes to pass. SpaceX would have 20 times the number of
operational satellites in orbit today, per a recent tally by the Union of Concerned
Scientists. The company's notional mega-fleet would also eclipse the count of all
spacecraft ever launched into space by humanity (both operational and defunct) by
nearly five-fold, based on a United Nations database.

SpaceX plans to boot up Starlink with a fraction of this number, then build toward a
floating internet backbone around Earth that also bathes most of the planet's surface
in ultra-high-speed web access.

"For the system to be economically viable, it's really on the order of 1,000 satellites,"
Musk told Business Insider during a call with journalists in May, "which is obviously
a lot of satellites, but it's way less than 10,000 or 12,000."

The additional spacecraft appear to reflect SpaceX's planning for Starlink's deeper
future. As more satellites for internet constellations fly, they will bring risks as well as
rewards.
QUIZ : FILL IN THE BLANKS

Directions: Fill in the blanks and complete the paragraph.

SpaceX wants to surround earth with a fleet of satellites called ___________. Original plans call
for ___________ satellites sent to outerspace in the next 8 years or so. However, SpaceX asked
permission to send ___________ more satellites in orbit for a total of ____________ satellites. Elon
hopes that even ________ and rural regions will be to afford high-speed internet connections.