and when Musk puts into orbit gigantic solar panels beaming down the energy i wonder how the typical anti-solar-energy argument "Sun isn't always shining" would sound then :)
SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed
71–80 of 540 posts
Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
This still requires ground stations. Though I guess you could pay for "censor resistant" traffic where your data is bounced among the satellites until someone has a US ground station in sight...
I agree that the US is above average in terms of protection against censorship, but I imagine that if it is an option a lot of people would specifically avoid US ground stations (US is above average in tracking online activity as well).
To some extent we just need something better than https and the various email protocols that we have for securely transmitting data, with built in blinding for sender and reciever. (Only the receiver knows it is a message for them). Stuff should never be in the clear on an intermediary server, and it should be at least resistant to MITM (everything should be signed). It isn't an easy problem. But you can't snoop on and censor what you can't decipher.
Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed
#73Free, global internet access is the next step toward a smarter, more progressive planet. I don't even care about the speed - if the only thing users could access was wikipedia, I'd still personally donate to the project. I cannot emphasize how important democratizing knowledge is to me (and many others).
You may be interested in the Filecast https://outernet.is/filecast project in that case
Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed
#74Free, global internet access is the next step toward a smarter, more progressive planet. I don't even care about the speed - if the only thing users could access was wikipedia, I'd still personally donate to the project. I cannot emphasize how important democratizing knowledge is to me (and many others).
Free global wireless internet lets every device in your home spy without an easy way to firewall it off.
And why was that down-vote worthy? Globally available FREE internet means that devices in our homes could bipass our routers to signal home with little ability to oversee and limit that signaling save throwing the device away and a faraday cage. Today the same is also possible with 3/4/5G antennas, true, but the cost of sending data over cellular networks on billable data accounts is probably just too cost prohibitive for IoT device manufacturers to do, so they just do it through your wifi.
Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
People aren't generally using a 1 gbps connection at 100% capacity 100% of the time. If we assume customers use an average of 1 TB of data per month and the time they use it is pretty spread out (seems reasonable since they are going to be spread out accross timezones eventually), you can serve about 6 million customers with 800 satelites @ 23 GBPS, and with 4400 @ 23 GBPS you could do ~33 million. Admittedly these n…
Still. What's the cost of deploying 800 sattelites vs cost of fiber infrastructure for 6 million people?
So long as it breaks even, SpaceX comes out ahead, since they're deploying the sats, and learning how to build the sats in a mass produced way.
Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed
#76I worked for a company called Lightsquared that tried to do this. Big problems were faced from lobbyists, maybe SpaceX has more money to protect themselves though:
Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed
#77I don't understand the math. 800 satellites at 23 gbps seems to be able to provide 1 gbps to 18,400 connections at any given time. This seems to be many magnitudes off from what would be needed to have any impact. What am I missing?
nobody uses their connection at full capacity 100% of the time
Well people that leave torrents on 24/7 can.
Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
Still. What's the cost of deploying 800 sattelites vs cost of fiber infrastructure for 6 million people?
It depends on how far apart those 6 million people are and how much infrastructure is already in place.
Since satellites handle most worst-case distance scenarios with respect to fiber, it is reasonable to assume a connection spanning the world (including access to remote areas)
Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
People aren't generally using a 1 gbps connection at 100% capacity 100% of the time. If we assume customers use an average of 1 TB of data per month and the time they use it is pretty spread out (seems reasonable since they are going to be spread out accross timezones eventually), you can serve about 6 million customers with 800 satelites @ 23 GBPS, and with 4400 @ 23 GBPS you could do ~33 million. Admittedly these n…
Still. What's the cost of deploying 800 sattelites vs cost of fiber infrastructure for 6 million people?
In cities, the fiber, or even some form of local wireless, is much cheaper. However, in more rural areas the satellite system can well end up the cheaper choice.
The interesting part is what building 4425 satellites does to the economics of making satellites. Right now, most satellites are one-offs, or at most made in a series of 10 or so, handmade to exact specifications for maximum reliability and built for 25+ year lifetimes. This fleet is meant to be mass-produced and built to last a much shorter time, 5-10 years at most. I am very interested in just how low can they drive the cost of making a single satellite.
Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed
#80I don't understand the math. 800 satellites at 23 gbps seems to be able to provide 1 gbps to 18,400 connections at any given time. This seems to be many magnitudes off from what would be needed to have any impact. What am I missing?
nobody uses their connection at full capacity 100% of the time
But a lot of people use it at near full capacity on Sunday evenings when a new episode of Westworld is out.