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Ajit Pai, the head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, has made an interesting request to the agency’s other four members: He wants them to approve SpaceX’s ambitious plan to deploy a mass of satellites, which would beam broadband internet back to earth.
To bridge the #digitaldivide, esp. in hard-to-reach areas, we'll have to be innovative. That's why I'm proposing today that the @FCC approve an application by @SpaceX to provide high-speed Internet access using satellite technology. https://t.co/1pTTNoEO54 pic.twitter.com/7gHjDAQ8DZ
— Ajit Pai (@AjitPaiFCC) February 14, 2018
Pai tweeted his intentions this morning, writing that, “To bridge the digital divide, esp. in hard-to-reach areas, we’ll have to be innovative.”
The SpaceX project was first proposed in early 2015. It could eventually consist of as many as 4,425 satellites and cost at least $10 billion, Forbes reported in November. The Los Angeles Times says that Elon Musk’s company could launch prototypes of its satellites as early as this weekend.
“The two satellites, known as Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b, are set to launch as the so-called secondary payload on Saturday’s Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California,” the Times wrote, citing a February 1 letter to the FCC from a SpaceX executive. The Times says the letter was submitted to the agency on Monday.
If SpaceX’s proposal is adopted, Pai wrote in a release, it would be the first time an American company has been granted approval to deploy low-Earth-orbit satellites for the purposes of providing broadband services.