Elon Musk owns two out of every three active satellites orbiting the Earth
No one in the upper echelons of the global space sector has the slightest doubt that Elon Musk, the richest man in the world according to the 2025 Forbes list, will be crowned once again as the undisputed emperor of the industry dedicated to exploring and commercially exploiting outer space.
The dynamism demonstrated day after day by SpaceX, the billionaire's launch services company, has achieved the titanic feat of sending into space in just over six years – from 24 May 2019 to 9 November 2025 – no less than 10,236 Starlink satellites, the largest broadband communications mega-constellation ever built around low Earth orbit.
Starlink Services LLC had six million subscribers to its high-speed Internet services last June, which rose to seven million in August and, since the beginning of November, to ‘more than eight million,’ according to the company, which describes the growth rate as ‘incredible.’ Its success is based on the global coverage of its thousands of satellites in the Ku and Ka bands, offering download speeds of between 50 Mbit per second in remote locations and up to 200 Mbit in areas with excellent coverage.
SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk in 2002 to realise his dream of launching the Starlink mega-constellation into space, at an altitude of between 250 and 600 kilometres, to provide affordable Internet access to individuals and businesses across the globe, including in Spain, starting at 29 euros per month. Internet from space is accessible even in isolated areas, where high costs or orographic difficulties make terrestrial communications expensive, difficult or impossible.
Elon Musk has managed to envelop the entire planet with thousands of satellites thanks to his powerful and reliable workhorse, the Falcon 9 launcher, which was fired 132 times throughout 2024 with 1,981 Starlink satellites on board. For the current year, the magnate's goal is to launch between 175 and 200 Falcon 9s, with which to position more than 2,000 Starlink satellites and move closer to his goal of forming a huge mega-constellation of 12,000 devices, but with plans to reach 34,400.
Two out of every three active satellites are Elon Musk's Starlink
Over the last six years, Musk has transformed the international space market and now dominates extraterrestrial activities on a global scale, from manned flights and transporting supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) to putting scientific, communications, observation and other types of satellites into orbit. And, of course, he has the Pentagon's trust for spy satellite launches covered by national security secrecy.
With a fortune estimated by Forbes at 342 billion dollars, there is currently no space agency, large company or billionaire entrepreneur anywhere on the planet that can overshadow him, that is in a position to match his achievements, let alone with sufficient financial and human resources to surpass his enviable feats.
Of the more than 10,200 small Starlink devices that Elon Musk has already put into orbit, astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who is dedicated to tracking and accounting for all space missions, has calculated that as of 20 October, ‘the number of Starlink satellites remaining in space, either in service or in reserve, amounts to more than 8,680.’ If we consider that the total number of active satellites is around 13,300, the 8,680 in the Starlink fleet represent 66 per cent, meaning that almost two out of every three satellites are owned by Elon Musk.
The difference between the more than 10,200 Starlink satellites sent into space and the 8,680 that remain there are satellites that failed during their deployment in space or, with an average lifespan of about five years, have already stopped working. In both cases, they re-enter the atmosphere and their structure, equipment and solar panels burn up completely, as they are designed and built to burn up completely in the upper layers of the atmosphere, thus preventing any debris from reaching the ground or sinking into the seas and oceans.
The first Starlink model had one solar panel and a take-off weight of about 260 kilograms. The improved version, which began deployment in September 2021, had a mass of about 300 kilograms and also a single solar panel. The configuration now being sent into space is the V2 Mini, which is larger than the previous ones. It weighs 730 kilograms, consists of two solar panels and has a unit cost of around $1.2 million. It will be followed by the V3 variant, which will be even larger in size, weight and capabilities.
A multi-million dollar investment
On Thursday, 6 November, Elon Musk allowed himself the luxury of a double launch, which is not the first. From the Cape Canaveral space base on the Atlantic coast of Florida, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off with 29 Starlink satellites and positioned them at an altitude of 559 kilograms.
That same day, a few hours later, but from the Californian space base at Vandenberg, on the Pacific coast, another Falcon 9 placed another 28 Starlink satellites into orbit at 295 kilometres. In total, in less than 24 hours, Musk added 57 new links to his immense space chain, renewing his large fleet and replacing destroyed devices.
But for an entrepreneur like Elon Musk, there is always an added challenge. To complete his offering, in early 2025 he activated the Starlink Direct to Cell or Starlink DtC service, which, for the moment, only operates in the United States and also in Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
The satellites providing the new service began to be launched in January 2024, are positioned at an altitude of around 450 kilometres and incorporate special antennas. This technology allows mobile phones to connect directly to the nearest Starlink DtC, which acts like a telephone tower positioned in space, making it possible to ‘make voice calls, send text messages and access data and videos from anywhere in the world,’ according to the company.
It is clear that Elon Musk's pharaonic mega space constellation requires a huge outlay from his coffers. Without official data, estimates by the consulting firm Quilty Space put the cost of developing, manufacturing and deploying the constellation in its current state at around 10 billion. And that Starlink Services LLC's revenue in 2025 will amount to about 11.8 billion dollars. But in both cases, these are estimates.
What is certain is that maintaining or expanding such a volume of satellites in orbit requires a titanic investment effort, which, at present, only Elon Musk and, to a lesser extent, Jeff Bezos, his fellow billionaire competitor, with his Amazon initiative of 3,200 satellites, can afford. However, we must take into account the Guowang (13,000 satellites) and Qianfan (14,000) mega-constellations that China has already begun to deploy and which could spoil the party for both entrepreneurs. Before long, time will tell who comes out on top.