Every week, Supercluster recaps the biggest stories in space exploration. This week: SpaceX attempts to launch the first 60 of its experimental broadband satellite constellation that will eventually populate orbit with almost 12,000 internet-broadcasting spacecraft. CEO Elon Musk says that their effort to bring faster internet to underserved parts of the globe and to introduce competitively-priced internet to the market will eventually help SpaceX fund its Mars ambitions.

Also in the news, NASA is ramping up its own human exploration strategy with a new endeavor to return Americans to the moon by 2024. To move this forward, a controversial budget increase request was made this week that could help fund the mission.

For NASA and SpaceX, a critical question still remains: how much funding is actually needed to expand the human footprint throughout the solar system?