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SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

arstechnica.com

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Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#171

Post by ChuckMcM »

ygaels_armpit wrote: post #166
ChuckMcM wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is simply brilliant. Faux bricks which connect together to create a phased array antenna that create a mesh network between connected homes. Now if it was low enough power to run on the heat differential between the flue gases and the ambient air I would know I was in the future.

What harnesses that?

The canonical example of harvesting the heat differential is the biolite stove[1] it uses a thermoelectric generator[2] to provide up to 4 watts (peak) of power.

[1] http://www.bioliteenergy.com/products/biolite-campstove

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_generator

Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#172

Post by andrewtbham »

grapevines wrote: post #95

Such a genius move, surprising nobody saw it coming. Just think: he will already have access to a large base of customer's roofs (which SolarCity effectively owns) --- 1 million by 2018. Then, it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to an on-demand, fully-cached, mesh network. They're probably not far from being able to provide internet service to all SolarCity customers, just a bit of a modification to the contract.

no one saw it coming? they anounced this in 2015.

Here is a video where elon explains the system very well in 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHeZHyOnsm4

Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#174

Post by 1952wasntU »

icehawk219 wrote: post #152

Something I find interesting about this: what does it mean for countries who monitor and filter/block content (think China)? Presumably since this isn't using their national infrastructure they would lose all control of it, no? I wonder how those countries would respond to SpaceX wanting to let their citizens use the service. Unless I'm missing something it seems to me like they wouldn't really be able to stop it.

In order to xmit they need licensed spectrum from the government.

Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#175

Post by [deleted] »

icehawk219 wrote: post #152

Something I find interesting about this: what does it mean for countries who monitor and filter/block content (think China)? Presumably since this isn't using their national infrastructure they would lose all control of it, no? I wonder how those countries would respond to SpaceX wanting to let their citizens use the service. Unless I'm missing something it seems to me like they wouldn't really be able to stop it.

[deleted]

Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#176

Post by bigiain »

Nokinside wrote: post #102
Tuna-Fish wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The frequencies they intend to use limit them to antennas roughly the size of a pizza box, which is a little bit too unwieldy for a backpack...

There are already satellite antennas larger than pizza box that fit into a backback.

Question: what sort of antennas would they use for this? A 1/4wave dipole at 10GHz would be _tiny_ (like 8mm or so, right?) - but presumably insufficiently sensitive for a satellite 800 miles up?

I've got a 5.8GHz "patch antenna" for FPV video from a quad copter which claims 12db gain - but I've got no idea what shape it is inside (it's small, maybe 70 or 80mm square, but it's a literal "black box" with an sma connector on it from my perspective).

Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#177

Post by lelandbatey »

talamown wrote: post #168
icehawk219 wrote: post #152

Something I find interesting about this: what does it mean for countries who monitor and filter/block content (think China)? Presumably since this isn't using their national infrastructure they would lose all control of it, no? I wonder how those countries would respond to SpaceX wanting to let their citizens use the service. Unless I'm missing something it seems to me like they wouldn't really be able to stop it.

A government still can get control practically. They cannot stop the service itself but can regulate payments from their citizens to the service. It is like online casino. Of course, there may be some loopholes for payment and some citizens who access the service as well as online casino.

One example of a loophole: Pay with Bitcoin/have someone on the outside of censorship pay for the service and you pay them, then you connect with those paid for credentials.

Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#178

Post by wott »

katzgrau wrote: post #7

Free, 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 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).

Come on... It was very fine to say this 15 to 20 years ago, but now we have had the ability to see what Internet evolved into during the last 5 or 10 years, and it has definitely not gone towards the achievement of this dream, but in a completely different direction.

Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#179

Post by ygaels_armpit »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #171
ygaels_armpit wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What harnesses that?

The canonical example of harvesting the heat differential is the biolite stove[1] it uses a thermoelectric generator[2] to provide up to 4 watts (peak) of power. [1] http://www.bioliteenergy.com/products/biolite-campstove [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_generator

I'm on beer fuel atm and have only read it briefly, but isn't that pure, free energy? With a solid state device. Why do we not have some of these things around our fridge etc.

Re: SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

#180

Post by [deleted] »

sgt101 wrote: post #20
katzgrau wrote: post #7

Free, 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).

Ok, given the election I have to ask.... Who's knowledge will we democratize?

[deleted]
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