Elon Musk is going to put the internet in space, then on Mars
Just another day in the life of Tony Stark
Because he doesn't have enough going on with his five-mile Hyperloop test track, tech superstar Elon Musk has revealed the details of his plan to bring cheap, unfettered internet to the masses.
Toward the end of last year we reported that Musk was working on global internet service unobstructed by wires, to be delivered by an army of space satellites.
As revealed in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, that will involve hundreds of satellites orbiting the Earth to deliver fast zippy internet.
"The speed of light is 40% faster in the vacuum of space than it is for fibre," said Musk. "The long-term potential is to be the primary means of long-distance Internet traffic and to serve people in sparsely populated areas.
"Our focus is on creating a global communications system that would be larger than anything that has been talked about to date."
Star Trek
But space isn't enough for Musk - he also wants to take connectivity to the Red Planet in preparation for the arrival of human colonies and the inevitable "Just arrived on Mars, it's well sandy lol" Facebook statuses.
"It will be important for Mars to have a global communications network as well," said Musk. "I think this needs to be done, and I don't see anyone else doing it."
Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox
Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.
But Musk isn't the only one with cosmic ambitions for the web. Virgin boss Richard Branson just announced that his company is teaming up with Qualcomm to send its own satellites into orbit.
These satellites would offer web access to remote locations around the world. And if that sounds familiar, it's because Facebook and Google are working on similar plans right now.
Now all that's left is for Musk to announce plans for interstellar travel and reveal himself as Iron Man.
Hugh Langley is the ex-News Editor of TechRadar. He had written for many magazines and websites including Business Insider, The Telegraph, IGN, Gizmodo, Entrepreneur Magazine, WIRED (UK), TrustedReviews, Business Insider Australia, Business Insider India, Business Insider Singapore, Wareable, The Ambient and more.
Hugh is now a correspondent at Business Insider covering Google and Alphabet, and has the unfortunate distinction of accidentally linking the TechRadar homepage to a rival publication.