A public beta of Starlink, SpaceX's internet network, should be available in a few months.

-

Geeko

Space X, via its Starlink project, will soon open to the general public.

The firm of Elon Musk launched a new salvo of 60 satellites this Wednesday, October 7 during its 12th mission linked to its Internet network.

The private US space company now has 775 satellites in orbit providing good coverage over North America, reports

ZDNet

.

Satellites must all be connected

It was Elon Musk who broke the good news on Twitter.

"Once these satellites reach their target position, we will be able to deploy a fairly large public beta in the northern United States and, hopefully, southern Canada," said the billionaire.

It remains to be seen when this beta version will open.

Deployment of 60 Starlink satellites confirmed pic.twitter.com/x83OvjB4Pa

- SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 6, 2020

Last April, the boss of Space X announced a private beta within three months and a public one within six months.

The private beta kicked off in July, reserved for a select few.

For the public, there is still a catch.

As long as the new machines are not connected to the satellites already installed, the public will not be affected by the tests.

Not before February 2021

This is why Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, believes that a public beta is not possible before February 2021. The 60 satellites sent by SpaceX are divided into 3 groups of 20. “The first group will reach the target height in about 45 days;

the second and third after approximately 90 and 135 days, ”explains

Presse-Citron

, the scientist

.

There remains another challenge for Space X. In addition to its ability to send missiles into orbit, the American company, which has presented encouraging Internet Starlink performance tests, will have to produce enough terminals to access its services.

At the moment, it is only "a few thousand end user terminals per month".

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