SpaceX will increase the number of satellites by 3 times

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has authorized SpaceX to launch 7,500 next-generation Starlink v2.0 satellites for the Starlink satellite internet service. This is more than 2 times more than the number of satellites (3500) currently in orbit.

At the same time, the FCC did not approve SpaceX’s application in full — the company requested permission to launch almost 30,000 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit. The Commission planned to decide whether to allow the deployment of a large number of satellites after the devices for which permission has already been issued are in orbit.

Currently, the limit on the number of satellites in the SpaceX space group is set to «address concerns about orbital debris and threats to space security.» Earlier, competing companies opposed allowing SpaceX to launch 30,000 satellites.

In October, Elon Musk said that SpaceX spends up to $ 20 million a month to maintain Starlink Internet terminals in Ukraine, but will not refuse to provide services in the future. However, in less than a month, 1,300 Starlink terminals were shut down in the war zone in Ukraine, citing funding problems as the reason. Starlink satellite stations remain virtually the only means of communication for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in many «hot» zones after cell towers and Internet connections were destroyed during the full-scale war with Russia.