ZDNet By Liam Tung | June 8, 2020
SpaceX engineers also reveal machine learning is not used on the Dragon and Falcon spacecraft.
Each of SpaceX's monthly launches of 60 internet-beaming Starlink satellites carries 4,000 stripped-back Linux computers, SpaceX software engineers have revealed.
SpaceX engineers disclosed the detail in a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) session over the weekend.
Elon Musk's rocket company last week launched 60 more internet-beaming satellites into space on a reused Falcon 9 rocket, bringing its total count to around 480 and moving it closer to the 800 it needs to provide moderate coverage over the US.
The company plans to launch a public beta of the satellite internet service by the end of the northern hemisphere's summer and has won approval to deploy one million end-user terminals in the US.
SpaceX recently applied to the Federal Communications Commission to launch 30,000 second-generation satellites over and above the 12,000 that had already been approved. Assuming the second-generation satellites carry the same number of Linux computers, it would mean SpaceX plans to send at least two million Linux computers into space in the next few years.
More:
https://www.zdnet.com/article/spacex-weve-launched-32000-linux-computers-into-space-for-starlink-internet/
