SpaceX launches Starlink satellite

While much of the world economy stands still, SpaceX is running full speed ahead.

Elon Musk's space venture launched another batch of its Internet-beaming satellites into Earth's orbit Wednesday, continuing the company's push to create a multibillion-dollar telecom business.

The 60 Starlink broadband satellites rode atop one of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets, taking off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center at 3:30 pm ET. The devices are now coasting through orbit, where they will soon begin climbing to about 340 miles above ground, their operational altitude. This launch brings the total number of Starlink satellites in orbit to more than 400, CNN reports.

SpaceX has said the satellites will allow it to beam Internet directly to terminals that consumers will set up at their homes or offices. Service is expected to roll out in the United States and Canada this year, CEO Elon Musk has said. The company plans to eventually grow its constellation to more than 40,000 satellites, blanketing the entire planet in cheap, high-speed Internet connectivity.

If Starlink is successful, it could bring in billions of dollars of new revenue for SpaceX, Musk has predicted. But there's still a lot to prove: rolling out a reliable service and offering it at price points that make sense for consumers is something tech firms have tried and failed to do in decades past.

Last month, one of SpaceX's well-funded competitors, Softbank-backed OneWeb, filed for bankruptcy. The company lagged far behind SpaceX in deploying its constellation of internet satellites, and it had been struggling financially even before the Covid-19 pandemic dashed its efforts to secure new financing.

SpaceX and the broader US space industry have been designated "critical infrastructure" by the federal government, allowing much of their business operations to continue amid the global health crisis, even as stay-at-home orders have shuttered other industries.