Billionaire Elon Musk 'dominates' Earth's orbit

Musk's SpaceX has launched more than 1,000 Starlink satellites into orbit since the beginning of the year through June, accounting for more than 60% of the satellites launched worldwide in the first half of 2023, according to data from astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (USA), according to Nikkei Asia.

Elon Musk speaks online at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) conference in Barcelona (Spain) about Starlink

The "Empire" expands

Satellite constellations in low Earth orbit allow for faster internet connections than fixed terrestrial broadband services, and Mr Musk has invested heavily in this growing market.

SpaceX has launched nearly 5,000 Starlink satellites into space since 2019 and has applied for licenses to operate 42,000 satellites in total, according to Nikkei Asia. The company currently has few competitors, and Amazon, one of its rivals, plans to launch a satellite prototype by the end of this year.

Starlink has so far focused primarily on the business-to-business (B2B) segment. Its corporate customers include Royal Caribbean Group, the US cruise line, and Zipair Tokyo, a Japanese low-cost airline. Starlink has also played a key role in Ukraine, where much of its ground communications infrastructure was destroyed in the conflict with Russia.

After meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the US on June 20, Mr Musk expressed his desire to provide satellite telecommunications services in India, saying that increasing internet access “could be extremely useful” in remote villages. India has a population of 1.4 billion people but only 2% of households have high-speed fixed internet access.

SpaceX's Starlink satellites can provide high-speed internet access while orbiting just 300 to 600 kilometers above the Earth's surface, far below the meteorological and other satellites that typically orbit around 36,000 kilometers above the Earth. According to Ookla, a US internet speed test provider, Starlink speeds are at least comparable to terrestrial services, up to 40% faster than regular broadband in the UK and twice as fast in Australia.

Opportunities and risks

Because satellites do not require cables, they have a big advantage in rural and remote areas where communications infrastructure is underdeveloped. The number of users of satellite communications services is expected to more than double worldwide, from 71 million in 2022 to 153 million in 2031, according to Euroconsult, a space consulting firm.

Morgan Stanley predicts the global satellite communications market will grow 13-fold between 2020 and 2040 to $95 billion, with demand from autonomous vehicles driving the market. The Starlink network is a powerful tool for self-driving cars because they can continuously update software anywhere. Billionaire Musk is the owner of Tesla, the world's leading maker of electric and self-driving cars.

However, satellite communications is a relatively new field and not without risks. OneWeb, a UK satellite operator, collapsed in 2020 after running into financial difficulties and being bailed out by the government.

Even SpaceX isn’t on solid ground. The company is trying to expand its market while also receiving large government grants and project orders from NASA. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said Starlink “will make money” by 2023.

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