The Inquirer

Musk makes 420 joke as he teases 60 'Starlink' universal internet satellites

They'll be literally, like, floating on air, man

Musk makes 420 joke as he teases 60 'Starlink' universal internet satellites
'Lads! I've had an idea! A huge array of satellites! Pass the Hobnobs..."
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POT SMOKING, Grimes snogging, possible-alien car salesman Elon Musk has revealed his next big idea to fix mankind - an array of satellites that will girdle the globe to provide a global WiFi hotspot.

The first array of 60 is just the beginning, and there'll need to be six times that in order to provide a basic service. In the end, that figure will be nearer 12,000 before the service can compete with existing delivery methods.

7x60=420.

Given that Elon has a bit of a history with regards to his relationship with that particular number (both his pot-smoking podcast antics and his notorious '$420 per share' tweet) he couldn't resist a reference on Twitter:

Musk had posted 60 'Starlink' satellites, neatly stacked inside a SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket, ready for launch on Wednesday, at which time we'll get the full skinny on the service which could mean the internet gets 40 times faster than the one we know.

It's all a bit pie-in-sky right now, but Musk's first launch represents a significant show of intent for potential investors.

"Much will likely go wrong on 1st mission" added Musk in an expectation managing exercise, code for 'it might actually just blow up on the launchpad'.

The idea of a global satellite network for the internet is not a new one, and let's be honest here, the execution doesn't generally end well.

Look at Doctor Who's the 'Archangel Network', which is exactly the same premise and turned out to be both a mind control device to help the cybermen and then again to convince people to vote for The Master. And don't get us started on Skynet from the Terminator films. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, is it? μ

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