DailyDirt: Space-Based Telecommunications

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The idea of space-based telecommunications seemed so promising in the 1980s, but the delivered services didn't quite live up to the dream of ubiquitous global communications. Al Franken's one-man satellite reporting didn't really address the latency issues associated with geosynchronous satellite orbits, but the future of satellite communications was still a bad joke. Perhaps after a few decades, we're ready for another try? After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.
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Filed Under: al franken, cubesats, elon musk, geosynchronous orbit, iridium next, isp, oneweb, satellites
Companies: iridium, oneweb, spacex


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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Jun 2015 @ 6:17pm

    Wonder how many satellites it takes just to cover the continental US? If 900-4000 cover the whole world, it should only take... several dozen? That's like a few million bucks to cover the whole country now that launch systems are getting less expensive? Chump change to a giant telecom, so what's really preventing satellite internet again?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 12 Jun 2015 @ 2:07am

      Re:

      The problem with satellites in lower orbits is that you cannot really separate coverage of the US from coverage of the whole world. The satellites spend more of their time below the horizon from any viewpoint on earth.
      While one or two Geostationary satellites could cover most of the US, northern Alaska would be a problem, but low orbit satellites can solve this problem. The latency introduced by geostationary satellites is noticeable, and would be a problem for gamers etc.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 12 Jun 2015 @ 7:07am

        Re: Re: big difference in altitude

        Great point about the latency. I knew there was a difference in altitude between the two orbits but had never looked it up before. Holy cow!
        LEO orbit is around 99 miles high
        Geosynchronous orbit is at 22,236 mi

        I can see how that might make for a little bit of latency difference.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Reality Reportor, 11 Jun 2015 @ 6:19pm

    Elon Musk gets 4.9 BILLION in government subsidies:

    http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html

    The New World Order is Fascism. If those networks are ever built, they're for Skynet.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 12 Jun 2015 @ 7:11am

    Looks like more space junk is in the forecast, better start designing those garbage collecting sats asap.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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