Affordable space internet service Starlink is no longer losing money and has achieved breakeven cash flow, Elon Musk has announced.Last year, the SpaceX CEO had said that Starlink was losing about $20 million a month.
“I’m excited to announce that SpaceX’s Starlink has achieved breakeven cash flow. Excellent work by a great team,” said Musk.“Starlink is also now a majority of all active satellites and will have launched a majority of all satellites cumulatively from Earth by next year,” the billionaire posted on X.
The satellite internet service, likely to enter the growing Indian internet market soon, generated $1.4 billion revenue last year.This is up from $222 million in 2021 but $11 billion short of its original projections, according to reports.
There are roughly 5,000 Starlink satellites currently operating in low-Earth orbit, with plans for up to 37,000 more. Musk-run aerospace company SpaceX aims for 12 launches per month, or one launch in less than three days.
The goal is to put many more Starlink satellites in space to support the satellite-based cell phone service, due to launch next year as a texting-only service, with voice and data reportedly coming in 2025 and beyond.
Last year, SpaceX launched 61 missions and in the last 12 months, SpaceX has launched more than 88 rockets, plus one test flight of the company's much larger Starship rocket to Mars.