Musk went on firing spree over slow satellite broadband progress
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Elon Musk went on firing spree over slow satellite broadband progress.
Musk fired SpaceX managers, aims to stay on schedule for mid-2019 launch.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently "fired at least seven" managers in order to speed up development and testing of satellites that could provide broadband around the world, Reuters reported today.
SpaceX denied parts of the story, saying that some of those managers left of their own accord and that the firings happened over a longer period of time than Reuters claimed.
SpaceX has Federal Communications Commission approval to launch 4,425 low-Earth orbit satellites between 2019 and 2027 in a bid to compete against cable and fiber ISPs and to bring broadband to unserved and underserved areas. SpaceX is also seeking FCC approval of another 7,518 satellites. SpaceX's "goal of having Internet service available in 2020 is 'pretty much on target' with an initial satellite launch by mid-2019," one of Reuters' sources said.
But Musk apparently concluded that keeping the Starlink project on schedule required a management shakeup.... more on Ars Technica
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@scottalanmiller totally upvoted for keeping a title not spun by you.
Anyway, I read this yesterday someplace, do not think it was Ars.
Reading past the clickbait headline, the article was actually pretty clear that this was intentional and needed.
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I'm most excited just to see SpaceX's ISP plans still in the news. We start to worry when there are no updated and wonder if the project is still underway or not. Of all of Musk's wild schemes, this is the one that seems the most realistic & the most important. This one affects the poorest, remotest people and countries the most. Electric cars and hyperloops and space exploration are neat and I appreciate them, but they mostly affect rich people in rich countries. SpaceX as an ISP does the opposite and is a great, global field leveler that I'm really excited about.
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@scottalanmiller You don't have to go all that far to find really crappy Internet, even though we aren't even in the slightest of poorest countries. Glad to see that somebody is doing something with all of their money and power to help the rest of humanity.
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@NerdyDad said in Musk went on firing spree over slow satellite broadband progress:
@scottalanmiller You don't have to go all that far to find really crappy Internet, even though we aren't even in the slightest of poorest countries. Glad to see that somebody is doing something with all of their money and power to help the rest of humanity.
Yeah, but even rural America with the worst options, you have the options of leased lines, bad satellite, moving, fixed wifi, etc. It's awful, but never as limited as being in a country where free Internet (free as in freedom) doesn't exist, or there is no provider at all that you can legally use.