Would You Want Broadband-By-Soviet-Spy-Plane?

from the sign-me-up dept

Tue, Nov 6th 2007 5:36pm — Mike Masnick

For many years, we've been hearing all sorts of bizarre and crazy ideas for different methods of offering broadband. A popular one tends to be with flying devices of some sort. For a while we heard all sorts of stories about hideous-looking floating blimps called stratellites that would get press every six months or so, but which never actually launched anywhere. That's been going on for about five years. Another company tried something similar, but called its offering aerostats. Then there was the company that tried to use an acronym instead, referring to "HAPs" or "high altitude platforms." No matter what you call them, though, they haven't actually done much. However, that won't stop some people from trying. The latest such case isn't even a blimp. The idea is to take Russian unmanned spyplanes and turn them into flying broadband providers. Perhaps they'll double as spyplanes as well, though that's not clear. What is clear is that the economics of such an offering, combined with the likelihood of it being reliable (i.e., almost no chance), means that this is another plan not destined to be competing with your DSL connection any time soon.

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Filed Under: broadband, drones, spy planes, stratelite, unmanned planes

9 Comments

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Mark, 6 Nov 2007 @ 6:04pm

Why not
Sputnik still has a name for itself.
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reeder, 6 Nov 2007 @ 6:34pm

broadband
What if the russians built modular sattalites then sent them into orbit so as to creat world wide coverage?The sattelites could be added on to at any time.They have the ability to launch tremendus loads in to space,All they would need is a modifyed capsual to carry the technitions up there to assemble the things.not a wimpy little satelits of a few thousand pounds but hundreds of tones even eventulla thousands of tones.The only problem might be time delay,mabe a low earth orbit,Say 3 thousand miles up.access in the neighbor hood of 100 dollare per year,
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illegalprelude, 6 Nov 2007 @ 6:35pm

Yea, i read about this on Engadget.

I dont even get the idea. So the planes have to be up in the air, acting as a tower and sending down the signal? If so...that means there has to be planes flying 24/7 for this idea to work and that does not seem economical or possible in any shape or form.
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Max Powers at http://ConsumerFight.com, 6 Nov 2007 @ 10:27pm

Now I have heard it all
Never heard of this before. I thought this was a joke when I fist read the title.

The sentence "the idea is to take Russian unmanned spy-planes and turn them into flying broadband providers" makes me ask whose idea is it? Russia? Sorry, I'm a little confused.
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wth?, 7 Nov 2007 @ 7:45am

The article omits details
The linked article omits details making this whole story sound as something completely different than what it really is, even though it itself links to most of the relevant information.

1. The main idea of this project is to be able to create cell phone and data coverage in areas hit by natural or man made disaster or in areas with no satellite/phone connections of any kind.

2. Use in disaster areas does not need explanation, I hope. As far as use in areas without direct telecommunication links, it makes sense too. These areas won't need 24/7 connection like us, spoiled westerners, do, and even 12 hours at a time a week will be considerably more than what they already have.

3. M55 (the airplane in question) is NOT unmanned. It is a rather large airplane similar to U2 and with a range of 15,000 km, which makes the whole idea of it floating around for extended period of time quite reasonable.

Now seriously, could the article writer comment on the actual news and not try to pigeonhole it for entertainment purposes?
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Mike Brown, 7 Nov 2007 @ 12:01pm

Not really a new idea...
This suggestion was first floated back in the 1940's - the idea then was to use war-surplus B29's with hinged towers under their bellies orbiting at 30,000 feet as super-high TV transmitting antennas.

See http://members.aol.com/jeff560/tv5.html

Evidently the system was actually tested and used at one point, under the name "Stratovision". In fact, we may be doing it right now in Iraq from a C130 Hercules.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratovision
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RETA, 19 Nov 2007 @ 3:11pm

spy
i want to be a spy that is my pone 0035275050 or 0104341937 & i am 14 years old
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Drew, 29 Feb 2008 @ 1:17pm

l'espionnage
http://hermes001.skyrock.com

http://lespionnage.skyrock.com
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guanyon, 27 Oct 2009 @ 11:26pm

cfd
I've worn my ugg Cardy Boots on cold, dry days, and they keep me warm outside as well as inside! (The Ugg Classic Cardy Boots come with a hard sole that makes them durable beyond the bedroom.)
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