Important Innovations

  SpaceX Starlink Source:  SpaceX Starlink 600 Internet Satellites and Counting SpaceX and founder/CEO Elon Musk are setting new records in building Starlink, the space-based global internet service.  SpaceX is manufacturing an unprecedented 120 internet satellites per month.  No satellite competitor has even come close.  600 Starlink satellites are now in low Earth orbit.  Musk recently told the FCC that he plans to build an interconnected network of 12,000 small satellites capable of beaming high speed internet to anyplace in the world. Big Investment Musk told the FCC that he has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Starlink thus far.  He is currently producing thousands of consumer user terminals per month and is building ground stations to directly connect consumers to the Starlink network.  Musk says his internet service will be "inexpensive" for consumers to purchase. Big Demand Last week, SpaceX informed the FCC that it is experienc...

Constellations of Small Satellites Source:  Airbus Airbus Wins Blackjack Program Contract DARPA, the US Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency, just awarded Airbus a contract to develop a satellite bus for its Blackjack program.  Blackjack is a satellite architecture for the US military.  Essentially, it is the utilization of constellations of small satellites in low orbit for the military. DARPA's New Small Satellite System DARPA plans on pairing the satellite buses with military sensors and payloads.  The buses will generate power for the satellites, provide propulsion and transmit spacecraft telemetry.  The use of small, inexpensive satellite constellations for military purposes is a concept DARPA has been developing over the past several years.  For more news stories on innovation, go to  amazon.com/author/ekane