Starlink: FCC Approves SpaceX to Launch 7500 More Satellites
SpaceX can now launch up to 15,000 second-generation Starlink satellites into space. It's meant to improve direct connection of smartphones, for example.
(Image: Juan Alejandro Bernal/ Shutterstock.com)
The US telecommunications authority FCC has allowed SpaceX to launch another 7500 second-generation Starlink satellites into space. This means the space company of billionaire Elon Musk is now allowed to operate 15,000 of these internet satellites in Earth orbit, according to a statement. The authority also permits SpaceX to improve these more modern Starlink satellites and to transmit and receive on five frequency bands. Furthermore, “outdated requirements” have been withdrawn, and SpaceX's wish to place Starlink satellites in lower orbits in the future has been granted. However, the FCC has rejected SpaceX's application to launch a total of 30,000 satellites. In addition, the FCC has set a tight schedule for the approved satellites: SpaceX must launch and put at least half of them into operation by December 2028.
Internet for hard-to-reach regions
Starlink has been under construction since 2019, and more than 9400 active satellites are now providing fast internet connections on all continents. About 3500 of these belong to the first generation, and around 6,000 to the second. SpaceX is working on a third generation, but these satellites can only be launched into space with the Starship super heavy-lift rocket, which is not yet operational. While SpaceX operates by far the largest so-called mega-constellation of satellites to date, Amazon, for example, is planning to build its own. China also has plans for its Starlink competitors. The strategic value of Starlink has become clear in recent years, for example in the Ukraine war; the service currently enables connections to Iran, despite the internet blackout there.
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SpaceX submitted the application for the significant expansion of Starlink, now approved by the FCC, in the fall. In it, SpaceX promised, among other things, that the new satellites would be able to connect directly to conventional smartphones. The FCC has now also confirmed this, stating that this technology is intended to pave the way for next-generation mobile applications. Reuters points out that the then FCC chair warned in 2024 that Starlink had too little competition. After all, SpaceX already operates more than two-thirds of all active satellites.
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