“Starlink is the right type of business that we can put on the stock market “: these are the words spoken by Gwynne Shotwell, the president of Space X during a briefing with its investors. Space flagship of Tesla’s boss Elon Musk, Space X is known for its rockets which now compete with ESA or NASA but has also developed a constellation of communication satellites called Starlink.
Space X, which plans to start marketing its satellite internet offer this year, has already deployed more than 200 satellites and could launch up to 12,000 by the end of 2020. If Space X promises that Starlink will offer an internet connection all around the globe faster and less expensive than current conventional subscriptions, the constellation would, however, have great financial potential. In 2015, Mr. Musk saw the project as a means of ” generating enough profits to help found a city on March“.
As promising as it is on paper, the future of Starlink is not yet all mapped out: posing a real threat to astronomical research, this constellation is already starting to harm the scientific community.