SpaceX to launch first of its global internet satellites

SpaceX plans to launch its first demonstration satellite Wednesday for its internet-in-space project. It plans eventually to have thousands of small satellites delivering broadband access around the world.

SpaceX is slated to launch a rocket from a pad at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base at 6:17 a.m. local time on Wednesday. The launch's primary mission is to deliver an observational satellite, called PAZ, for the Spanish government.

A Falcon 9 SpaceX heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. [File photo:AP/John Raoux]

The California-based company has delayed the launch of its next Falcon 9 rocket to allow final checks of the rocket's upgraded nose cone. The rocket was scheduled to launch early Sunday (Feb. 18).

"Team at Vandenberg is taking additional time to perform final checkouts of upgraded fairing. Payload and vehicle remain healthy. Due to mission requirements, now targeting February 21 launch of PAZ," the company tweeted.

Paz won't be riding alone on the recycled Falcon 9. Quietly on board will be two experimental broadband satellites, Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b, a big first step in SpaceX' s long-term plans to create satellite internet over the next decade.

SpaceX wants to create a giant constellation of thousands of broadband satellites that will orbit in a synchronized dance above Earth, beaming internet connectivity to antenna receivers on the planet's surface.

The company's goal, according to projections obtained by the Wall Street Journal, is to have subscribed over 40 million customers by 2025, which would amount to nearly 30 billion U.S. dollars in total revenue.

The booster, an older Block 3 Falcon 9 model, will be discarded in the ocean after its flight, according to local media reports.