Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets That Launched a Second Space Age

Description

ref:17.42-62: StarLink, the technical challenges of low-earth, non-geostationary orbits for wireless broadband:
ref:17.43-5,61:

In 2016 high-speed internet from satellites still seemed like an idea from the future. Receiving data from space was not new. By then, DirecTV and DISH Network had been providing television service from outer space for two decades. However, this connectivity came from large, expensive satellites in geostationary orbit. At an altitude of more than 22,000 miles above Earth, the rate at which these satellites orbit the planet exactly matches the speed at which the planet rotates on its axis. This is great, because it means the satellite is always at the same location in the sky.

The problem is that data traveling across tens of thousands of miles to and from these satellites, even at the speed of light, experiences lag. This makes delivering high-speed internet without latency almost impossible. The solution is putting satellites in low-Earth orbit. However, these satellites orbit much more rapidly than the planet rotates, so they are always zipping overhead—the time from horizon to horizon is a matter of minutes. To make broadband internet from space work, there must be a lot of satellites, and they must be very, very smart about communicating with one another so that a user’s connection is not lost as a satellite passes over the horizon.

Musk estimated that SpaceX needed about 12,000 Starlink satellites for global internet coverage. That is a mind-boggling number of satellites. No company, or country, in the world operates more than a few hundred satellites. And Starlinks were not particularly small; each was about the size of a kitchen table, with a mass of more than 500 pounds. Developing all of this sophisticated technology, and launching it into space, was probably a $10 billion project at least.

[…]

But most of them did. By the end of 2023 nearly 6,000 Starlink satellites were flying in space thanks to the reusable Falcon 9 rocket. After starting as a rocket company, SpaceX now also claimed the mantle of the world’s largest satellite operator. Starlink accounted for more than two-thirds of all active satellites in orbit. And critically for the Mars vision, the program had begun to generate positive cash flow.

Featured in The Economist’s Best Books of 2024USA Today BestsellerHow did a shaky startup defy expectations and become the world’s leading spaceflight company? Get the untold story of the team of game-changers, led by a well-known billionaire, who are sending NASA astronauts to space—and just might carry the human race to Mars. One company dominates the modern space industry: SpaceX, founded by controversial entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2002, now sending more payloads into orbit than the rest of the world combined. But Musk didn’t do it alone—the saga of SpaceX is the story of a diverse cadre of true believers in the limitless potential of space travel. For the first time, Reentry relates the definitive chronicle of how this daring team was able to redefine what it takes to reach the stars. With Pulitzer Prize–nominated journalist Eric Berger, author of Liftoff, as your guide, you’ll accompany SpaceX’s innovative thinkers during their toughest trials and most audacious moments, including:Creating the first orbital rockets that land by themselves and fly againTransporting a 120-foot rocket from Texas to FloridaRecovering from a “Hell’s Bells” accident before the first Falcon Heavy launchFrantically searching the ocean for the first rocket that splashed down intactIdentifying the $20 part that led to a rocket exploding in flightSlicing up an engine days before it launched into spaceFrom launchpad explosions to a pernicious cricket infestation to the demanding management style of Musk himself, the rise of SpaceX was beset with challenges and far from inevitable. Find out how the startup beat the odds and flew high enough to outpace their rivals . . . and where they’re going next.