SpaceX is set to launch its first two test satellites on Sunday

Re:SpaceX is set to launch its first two test satellites on ... by mikhailt on Saturday February 17, 2018 @01:55PM (#16402078)

Everything they do has an impact on their end goal/master plan, Mars.

They need to send thousands of ships to colonize Mars. This global sat internet service will require them to deploy tens of thousands of micro-sats to provide global internet. The revenue generated by said service will provide them the funding to build the said ships for Mars.

Oh and of course, the eventual solar system internet.

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Re:SpaceX is set to launch its first two test satellites on ... by Dylan16807 on Saturday February 17, 2018 @02:14PM (#16402186)

> solar system internet

What exactly are you picturing here? Because of light-speed considerations you'd have semi-isolated networks at each major body, and bodies connected with special high-power high-latency links. And those links might as well be direct, only needing a handful of dishes.

Is there a reason to scatter little relay satellites all over the middle of nowhere? Or do anything else that needs many many rocket launches?

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Re:SpaceX is set to launch its first two test satellites on ... by toomuchtodo on Saturday February 17, 2018 @02:36PM (#16402300)

http://ipnsig.org/

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Re:SpaceX is set to launch its first two test satellites on ... by stcredzero on Saturday February 17, 2018 @02:31PM (#16402281)

What exactly are you picturing here? Because of light-speed considerations you'd have semi-isolated networks at each major body, and bodies connected with special high-power high-latency links.

Late 21st century FidoNet. Late 21st century USENET?

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Re:SpaceX is set to launch its first two test satellites on ... by phkahler on Saturday February 17, 2018 @03:40PM (#16402569)

And mirroring of sites like Wikipedia, YouTube, and social media. Interplanetary email (with video attachments too).

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Re:SpaceX is set to launch its first two test satellites on ... by gfodor on Saturday February 17, 2018 @02:01PM (#16402105)

Yeah one can definitely imagine a future where SpaceX kills their payload-to-orbit delivery business in order to streamline operations and free up resources to focus on a) revenue generation from the sat network and b) the "get your ass to Mars" program. It'd be a risk from a diversification perspective but I could see them doing it once the sat network hits escape velocity wrt projected revenues landing them to cash flow positivity in the Mars program.

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Re:SpaceX is set to launch its first two test satellites on ... by grey-area on Saturday February 17, 2018 @02:52PM (#16402389)

They won’t have to. The larger rockets planned for mars (bfr) will make payload to orbit even cheaper as it is fully reusable, so only fuel costs.

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Re:SpaceX is set to launch its first two test satellites on ... by pjc50 on Saturday February 17, 2018 @02:05PM (#16402124)

Colonizing Mars must not happen until we have a definitive answer as to whether there is or was native life there. The answer "there was life until Musk landed" is not going to be acceptable.

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Re:SpaceX is set to launch its first two test satellites on ... by thaumaturgy on Saturday February 17, 2018 @02:11PM (#16402166)

There will be no practical way to determine that until we've colonized it.

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Re:SpaceX is set to launch its first two test satellites on ... by jandrese on Saturday February 17, 2018 @02:19PM (#16402210)

Proving the existence of life is relatively easy: we just have to find some. Proving that Mars is lifeless is flat impossible. We can't even be sure our definition of life is sufficient.

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