Elon Musk's space internet project officially submitted to FCC

Low-orbit web satellites look to become a reality for SpaceX boss

Elon Musk's concept for a satellite-based ‘space internet' took one step closer to completion as the ex-PayPal luminary's SpaceX company officially requested FCC permission to start testing the satellites it will need for the ongoing mission to cloak the entire earth in robust high-speed Wi-Fi coverage.

While Musk isn't alone - with at least Google and Samsung so far making similar noises about intentions for low-orbit internet satellites - the difference with Musk, who was also a founder of the trailblazing Tesla Motors company, is that his company already has the hardware to potentially carry out such an audacious plan.

SpaceX wants to use two of the company's own Falcon 9 two-stage rockets - which have been successfully delivering spacecraft into orbit since 2012 - to launch a whole fleet of small satellites into low orbit to, theoretically, reach every part of the earth with fast Wi-Fi, effectively bringing every citizen of the planet headfirst into the digital age in one fell swoop.

The FCC's agreement would specifically allow Musk and SpaceX to start launching test satellites as early as 2016, with estimates from this plan outlining the possibility of space internet being available globally as early as 2020.

However, it's been estimated that low-orbit satellites such as those Musk intends to use will not offer a particularly wide angle of signal - due to their low position - and as such, as Musk has admitted, around 4000 satellites will probably be required. These could cost a considerable fee.

The idea of "interplanetary internet" has been kicked around since the early 1980s, with everybody from NASA to Bill Gates (who pulled out due to the obscene expenditure at the time) having their thoughts and theories on how it could work.

It's entirely possible that, should the FCC decide that Musk's plans don't pass muster, SpaceX could aways take the concepts elsewhere on the planet and receive clearance from other world governments. Such is the status of space, which up until now has no official international "space space" in the way trespassing in the sky above a country can be swiftly met with a guided missile to the jaw.