SpaceX plans to launch its first demonstration¹ satellite Wednesday for its internet-in-space project.

 

美国太空探索技术公司周三计划发射首枚太空互联网演示卫星。

 

SpaceX is slated² to launch a rocket from a pad at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base at 6:17 a.m. local time on Wednesday. The launch's primary mission is to deliver an observational satellite, called PAZ, for the Spanish government.

 

The California-based company has delayed the launch of its next Falcon³ 9 rocket to allow final checks of the rocket's upgraded nose cone⁴. The rocket was scheduled to launch early Sunday (Feb. 18).

 

"Team at Vandenberg is taking additional time to perform final checkouts⁵ of upgraded fairing. Payload and vehicle remain healthy. Due to mission requirements, now targeting February 21 launch of PAZ," the company tweeted.

 

Paz won't be riding alone on the recycled Falcon 9. Quietly on board will be two experimental broadband satellites, Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b, a big first step in SpaceX' s long-term plans to create satellite internet over the next decade.

 

SpaceX wants to create a giant constellation⁶ of thousands of broadband satellites that will orbit in a synchronized⁷ dance above Earth, beaming internet connectivity to antenna⁸ receivers on the planet's surface.

 

The company's goal, according to projections⁹ obtained by the Wall Street Journal, is to have subscribed¹⁰ over 40 million customers by 2025, which would amount to nearly 30 billion U.S. dollars in total revenue.

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