Both Google and SpaceX are companies known for taking on huge projects that seem to come out of science fiction. Because of this, it’s all too appropriate that the companies will reportedly team up on a hugely ambitious project that could vastly expand access to the Internet across the world.
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The Information reports that Google is planning to invest in SpaceX “to support the development of SpaceX satellites that could beam low-cost Internet around the globe to billions who don’t have it.” Google has long been trying to come up with creative ways to spread Internet access across the world, including using weather balloons that would provide a floating hotspot in rural regions that don’t have strong wireline infrastructure.
Of course, the problem with this is that satellite Internet services have traditionally been unable to deliver high-speed services simply because the spectrum used for satellite transmissions isn’t as strong to delivering wireless Internet services as the spectrum used by wireless carriers.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in an interview last week that his company is working on “creating a global communications system that would be larger than anything that has been talked about to date,” which seems to describe the project that Google will be investing in, so this is definitely something to keep an eye on going forward.
