Billionaire playboy Elon Musk is at it again. His company, SpaceX is rumored to be talks to create a micro-satellite network that will deliver fast internet to hard-to-access places. Like, say, the Middle East .
After co-founding PayPal in the 1990s and later selling the company to eBay, Musk has become something of a serial entrepreneur. From electric car company Tesla to SpaceX, the first private company to send vehicles into orbit, one thing is clear: Musk means business. And now he is taking his know-how to the world of micro-satellites.
In early November, the Wall Street Journal published an article saying that Musk was in talks with Greg Wyler, a satellite-industry veteran and former Google executive. Wyler founded WorldVu Satellites Ltd, a company that controls a large block of radio spectrum, as well as O3b networks, a high-speed internet satellite company.
The implication? SpaceX is working on a project where small-satellites will deliver internet worldwide.
However, Musk is remaining tight-lipped. The entrepreneur took to Twitter to announce future plans for his company. Although he did not disclose specifics, Musk admitted that SpaceX is working on a fleet of “advanced micro-satellites operating in large formations."
While some speculate that the micro-satellites could be used for Earth imaging, the most likely theory is that the satellite network will deliver high-speed internet.
Wall Street Journal's unnamed source said that Musk and Wyler discussed launching around 700 small satellites that would each weigh less than 250 pounds and cost under $1 million dollars. To put that into perspective, the smallest communication satellites now weigh 500 pounds and cost several million to build.
In the past, high costs and limited users have hampered the ability to deliver internet via satellite. If this project goes through, it could cost $1 billion or more to develop.
However, there a lot of financial, technical and regulatory issues that would need to be resolved before this becomes a formal venture. For now, the project is entirely speculative, and Musk's involvement is not entirely clear. Especially since Musk said on Twitter that the Wall Street Journal article made several errors. As to what they were specifically, he would not say.