Elon Musk wants to spend 10 billion dollars to build the space internet

Who is the most ambitious man on Earth? Not Elon Musk, because his vision has already surpassed the Earth. Tesla Motors, spaceships (SpaceX), Solar (SolarCity), Super Rail (Hyperloop) are not enough, and he plans to launch 700 satellites to build the Internet. We thought he was trying to solve the problem of Internet access for 3 billion of people on Earth, but the latest news from Bloomberg Businessweek shows that he is more ambitious than that-and he wants to spend 10 billion of dollars to build a space internet so that people who will emigrate to Mars will be able to surf the Internet.

Previous sources said that Musk and Google's former satellite project leader Greg Wyler to launch a SpaceX rocket launched 700 small satellite internet access system, each weighing only 113 kg, the cost of less than 1 million U.S. dollars, the project investment is expected to be 1 billion dollars. Compared with the cable transmission, the satellite can not be limited by the geographical conditions of the ground, and in the vacuum environment signal transmission speed is faster than the air 40%, so it is a cheap and fast internet access means.

But now it seems that Musk is not aiming at the 3 billion people on Earth, and he even hopes that the future of the Martian colonies will be able to enjoy the network. According to Musk estimates, the entire project cost 10 billion dollars, but the satellite launch preparation time will take at least 5 years. As for the reason to do it-he did not see anyone do it, and he thought that doing it was also very important to colonial Mars. While money is not a problem, Musk says the project's long-term revenue stream is sufficient to support a city on Mars.

Musk said to Businessweek that the satellites would be on orbit 750 miles from Earth, a height that was not generally high. The International Space Station is only 268 miles high, but it still falls into the low orbit. Being closer to the ground means that the speed can be faster, which can be compared with the fiber transmission.

According to Musk's plan, the space Internet project will operate at SpaceX's new office in Seattle, which will be dedicated to 60 people, who will also work on the Falcon rocket and the spacecraft.

As for the previous Musk and Wyler cooperation, now it seems to be over. Musk and Wyler are said to have a fundamental share of the structure. Earlier this week, OneWeb announced a similar project, in charge of Wyler, and the project's sponsor was another space madman, Richard Branson's Virgin Group.