Elon Musk's SpaceX just got permission to operate 4,??? ?? ????425 satellites that could one day provide internet service from space.
That would vastly increase access to the internet -- especially in rural areas -- and possibly create a ton of space junk.
SEE ALSO: A SpaceX rocket launch blew a temporary hole in Earth's upper atmosphereNot that SpaceX is anywhere near ready to flip the switch on a new internet service. So far, it's only launched two demo satellites. But this is a big step forward.
In a statement released Thursday, the FCC said it was the first approval of "a U.S.-licensed satellite constellation to provide broadband services using a new generation of low-Earth orbit satellite technologies."
Yes, satellite internet does exist -- but it currently involves satellites orbiting very high above the Earth, around 22,000 miles. That's why it's so laggy and slow. Musk wants to solve that problem by launching satellites into low-Earth orbit, lower than 1,000 miles up. But those satellites can't provide enough coverage, which is why SpaceX wants to launch thousands of them.
That's good news for people in remote areas, and in developing countries. Instead of having to build expensive broadband cables to serve only a few people, internet service providers could build towers that receive signals from SpaceX's satellites, and then beam those signals to customers.
The downside is that this region of space could get crowded fast, with collisions causing collisions in a cascading disaster. Let's just hope Elon knows what he's doing.
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