Elon Musk Plans To Give Free Wifi To The Entire Earth

Elon Musk, despite all the controversies that surround him, is a genius and a real businessman par excellence. The way he has worked from the lower rungs of the entrepreneurial ladder to his present state as one of the Pole Stars of the economic world has been a story which is always worth telling.

What is more is that he has continually tried to create technological advancements that are genuinely universal and global.

One of his many attempts is his popular and often-criticized idea of Martian travel that he maintains will soon be a thing.

Another project of his has always been something that has been attempted before, in an ill-fated attempt by Facebook, among others: the quest of providing Satellite WiFi for the entire planet.

Of course, his idea has been inspired by one of Musk’s biggest inspirations, Nikola Tesla, that had first envisioned a way of providing seamless energy through space. That, of course, remained something that could not be materialized.

In Musk’s case, however, the project is about sending top-grade satellites into space, and not a few, we're talking about 4425 satellites, in a project which will cost a whopping $10bn.

Google has already fronted about a billion dollars to make sure the project gets off the ground.

The sad part is that, even in Tesla’s case, his main rivals, Edison and other big banking corporations had direct conflicts with the interest of the project that was to provide seamless and wireless energy.

And they ensured it was never fully functional.

Even in that case, it's against the interests of so many ISPs that the project shouldn't leave the ground. What's in their interest is that the project should be done by either one of them so the charges that the customers will face will stay unaffected.

And in that case, there's another ironical situation that has been encountered: the internet.org project attempt by Facebook which failed due to an explosion in the SpaceX launcher.

Anyway, similar attempts using balloons and high-altitude drones were attempted by Google and Facebook respectively.

Despite all this, there is the additional issue of the aftermath of the Falcon 9 explosion, that had caused a considerable hiatus in all launches.

As far as the details of the mission are concerned, satellites will measure 4×1.8×1.2 cubic meters, offsetting the solar panels on board.

Like everything else, when it comes to Elon Musk, and that's what also separates the project from the others, is that he plans to send up a large number of satellites. He's planning to send them all at once, with no thought of testing waters with a few before posting more.

Critics have been criticizing not only this aspect of the project but also the fact that connectivity will be highly dependent on a proper consideration of weather.

Another significant concern is the resultant environmental impact from launching approximately 4k satellites by 2019, which is roughly two years since the original vision. Given that small time window, will the satellites be adept enough in their functions?

According to NASA's estimations, 2600 non-functional satellites are roaming orbit spaces right now. Therefore, will two years be enough to encapsulate something with so many variables? It also includes the possibility that a significant number of those launched or existing satellites may crash into each other and come down in blazes of destruction towards Earth.

The thought counts as something that is very tantalizing. But for now, let’s hope that our richer corporate higher-ups think everything through before investing $10bn in such a fantasy. It can apparently be used to combat several problems the world is facing, such as child hunger and climate change being two of many. Ambitious decisions like those should be judged correctly before acting on any of them.

Image credits: Heisenberg Media [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons 123rf