SpaceX launches Starlink Internet, hoping it'll fund Mars flights

SpaceX, the space company headed by enrepreneur celebrity Elon Musk, is looking to launch a high-tech broadband Internet service globally. — Fabian Sommer/dpa

SpaceX, having established a formidable reputation in rocket launches, is starting to roll out what it hopes will be an even more muscular arm of its business: broadband Internet service.

The Elon Musk-led company has released pricing for a public beta test of its Starlink broadband Internet service, which is beamed to users via small satellites. A Texas school district and other local-government entities are already using it; now the service is being offered to a select group of individual consumers. Eventually, customers might include entire countries.