SpaceX, Elon Musk’s aerospace company, in collaboration with Indonesia, has launched a satellite from the United States with the aim of bringing high-speed Internet to remote areas of this vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands.
More than a third of Indonesia’s population lacks Internet access, especially in remote areas of this country, the fourth-most populous in the world.
The European-made SATRIA-1 satellite lifted off early Monday morning Indonesian time from a launch station in Florida, propelled by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
“SpaceX launched the PSN SATRIA mission into a geosynchronous transfer orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida,” the company reported on its website.
The satellite, built by French defense electronics company Thales, cost $540 million and is expected to provide Internet access to 90,000 schools, 40,000 hospitals, and government buildings in Indonesia.
The device is expected to begin operating in 2024 and will offer a connection speed of 150 gigabits per second, three times faster than the current satellite Internet speed in Indonesia.