After spending a week announcing his HyperLoop project, one would think that SpaceX founder Elon Musk would have finished building the next big project. However, it looks like Musk's next big project is bringing the Internet to space.
Bloomberg Businessweek reported on Musk's latest event. Along with opening a new office, Musk also announced his new big idea; launching a large network of communication satellites around the world that would help speed up the flow of the Internet, as well as deliver high-speed, low cost Internet to the areas of the world that have poor access to the web.
When asked what his goal was, Musk exclaimed "Our focus is on creating a global communications system that would be larger than anything that has been talked about to date."
The currently unnamed project would require an enormous amount of ambition. Musk is looking to launch hundreds of new satellites into orbit, about 750 miles above the earth. These satellites would be closer than most communication satellites in use. This difference would, according to Musk, make satellite-based internet almost as fast as cable-based internet.
Musk's new project sounds like just another "Worldwide internet venture". Both Google and Facebook have expressed an interest in creating such a network. Earlier this week, entrepreneur Greg Wyler and his startup OneWeb received funding from Qualcomm and Virgin Group for their attempt at building a satellite-based Internet network.
Virgin Group CEO Richard Branson doesn't believe Musk's attempt at a network will work. Branson told Bloomberg Businessweek that there's only room for one network in the atmosphere, and that Musk should just team up with Wyler's team to create something truly great.
Both Wyler and Musk's attempts to create a worldwide internet network are still pre-development and likely won't be implemented for a few years.
