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Musk shakes up SpaceX in race to make satellite launch window: sources

reuters.com

31–40 of 77 posts

Re: Musk shakes up SpaceX in race to make satellite launch window: sources

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now study geostationary c, ku, and ka band transponder capacity, earth stations, vsat modems/dishes/rf chains, to have a better understanding of the current two way satellite status quo.

Ka, as in, radar?

Yes, though two way satellite Ka is generally uses to refer to all of the bands above the "traditional" Ku band FDD frequency channels, but below 31GHz.

Not exactly the same bands as ka radar.

Re: Musk shakes up SpaceX in race to make satellite launch window: sources

#32

Maybe this is an obvious question, but is spacex allowed to bump / not take orders from its opponents in favor of its own internet satellites? That would effectively force any competitor to launch with someone more expensive, allowing spacex to corner the space-internet market on cost, right?

Yes. Just like Samsung can stop selling Apple screens. But they don't, because spacex is hurting for revenue, and satellite launch forecasts have slowed substantially.

Re: Musk shakes up SpaceX in race to make satellite launch window: sources

#33
post #5

Starlink is highly ambitious. What they're trying to do is basically a miniature version of the o3b network MEO architecture, where every CPE terminal needs to track two satellites simultaneously. The difference is that an o3b terminal starts from about $30,000 , they're trying to build something with a CPE cost under $700. This is literally a "has never been done before" satellite communications challenge. The only…

There are a lot of "has not been done before" going on right now in the satellite industry. Musk is the only one getting press, though. And keep in mind that the cpe cost hasn't been justified anywhere I've seen. Phased array is still far from $700, so it's not clear how they plan to recoup that.

Re: Musk shakes up SpaceX in race to make satellite launch window: sources

#34
post #12

I'm amazed how little coverage Starlink, OneWeb, etc get. It's the next revolution and the most important tech since the smart phone. Think about the great firewall of China. It's dead after this. Having a cell provider and home internet provider. Gone. Poor bandwidth anywhere on Earth - a thing of the past. This is important and huge. Buy rural property that is undeveloped. In 10 years time you'll be able to power i…

> I'm amazed how little coverage Starlink, OneWeb, etc get

Most of what Musk is doing (if it works) will strip tens of billions (trillions?) of dollars from very, very established industries.

Telco (Starlink), Auto (Tesla), Oil (Tesla), Transport (Boring), Power/oil/gas (SolarCity).

There are extremely rich and powerful interests that have no interest in him doing that, and you can bet they don't want the media telling the world what's going on.

Re: Musk shakes up SpaceX in race to make satellite launch window: sources

#35
This headline is not as negative as the article (or reality):

"Within hours of landing, Musk had fired at least seven members of the program’s senior management team at the Redmond, Washington, office, the culmination of disagreements over the pace at which the team was developing and testing its Starlink satellites"

Their progress is slower than musk wanted, and of that of the competitors telesat and oneweb from what's public. He was firing because the project isn't going well.

Re: Musk shakes up SpaceX in race to make satellite launch window: sources

#36
post #34
post #12

I'm amazed how little coverage Starlink, OneWeb, etc get. It's the next revolution and the most important tech since the smart phone. Think about the great firewall of China. It's dead after this. Having a cell provider and home internet provider. Gone. Poor bandwidth anywhere on Earth - a thing of the past. This is important and huge. Buy rural property that is undeveloped. In 10 years time you'll be able to power i…

> I'm amazed how little coverage Starlink, OneWeb, etc get Most of what Musk is doing (if it works) will strip tens of billions (trillions?) of dollars from very, very established industries. Telco (Starlink), Auto (Tesla), Oil (Tesla), Transport (Boring), Power/oil/gas (SolarCity). There are extremely rich and powerful interests that have no interest in him doing that, and you can bet they don't want the media telli…

Please don't compare everything he's doing in the same bucket. Even if starlink were to succeed technically, it's not clear how they'd pay for the ground system. The satellite is the only piece talked about, but the ground system is betting on technology to take a massive cut off what it costs currently. It's more likely to will only be sold to enterprise/business customers, and not Joe schmo in rural Kansas.

SpaceX needs this to succeed to increase revenue, based on a wsj story from last year. The launches, while fascinating to watch and a huge technical achievement, won't pay the bills forever.

Re: Musk shakes up SpaceX in race to make satellite launch window: sources

#37

Maybe this is an obvious question, but is spacex allowed to bump / not take orders from its opponents in favor of its own internet satellites? That would effectively force any competitor to launch with someone more expensive, allowing spacex to corner the space-internet market on cost, right?

SpaceX can fly--or not--whomever they want. And they are, in fact, not flying their competitors. OneWeb is booked on a variety of SpaceX competitors: Arianespace (mostly Soyuz, but also optionally Ariane 6), Virgin, and Blue Origin.

SpaceX certainly hopes this gives them an advantage, and it probably does, though eventually someone is bound to copy them if they prove successful. Blue Origin is already well on their way to a Falcon 9-alike.

Launch is also only part of the cost of a satellite constellation.

Re: Musk shakes up SpaceX in race to make satellite launch window: sources

#38
post #12

I'm amazed how little coverage Starlink, OneWeb, etc get. It's the next revolution and the most important tech since the smart phone. Think about the great firewall of China. It's dead after this. Having a cell provider and home internet provider. Gone. Poor bandwidth anywhere on Earth - a thing of the past. This is important and huge. Buy rural property that is undeveloped. In 10 years time you'll be able to power i…

What are the cost projections for system? If ~95-99% of customers (living in densely populated area) don't adopt it, economics may make it unviable for rest also.

Re: Musk shakes up SpaceX in race to make satellite launch window: sources

#39

I like the quote about putting Comcast out of business, but I don't know that I would have said as much publicly.

It might not be comcast that dies, but rather a couple of the cell phone vendors. Those are the businesses that are making bank on what is basically low bandwidth wide area coverage. Given the transmission path is going to be going up, it seems that a lot of the existing problems with topology and buildings getting it the way will be reduced. Anyway, I'm in a town with google fiber, but can't get more than a 30Mbit u…

Starlink service will not compete with cell phones; the terminals are too large. If anything, it will complement cell service, by making tower backhaul easier.

It's also unlikely to directly compete with wired ISPs in cities, as the bandwidth required for everyone to have a terminal would be high. But it could enable unwired 5G stations as micro-ISPs, which would be a similar effect.

What it will kill are rural or undeveloped area ISPs (such as they are) and provide high threat to undersea cables and cross-country fiber.

Re: Musk shakes up SpaceX in race to make satellite launch window: sources

#40
post #12

I'm amazed how little coverage Starlink, OneWeb, etc get. It's the next revolution and the most important tech since the smart phone. Think about the great firewall of China. It's dead after this. Having a cell provider and home internet provider. Gone. Poor bandwidth anywhere on Earth - a thing of the past. This is important and huge. Buy rural property that is undeveloped. In 10 years time you'll be able to power i…

> Buy rural property that is undeveloped

Wish it was that simple. Maybe when there is a big enough community (then it would get expensive isn't it). I once wished for that but after getting married the priorities change 1) kids schooling 2) ours and kids social life 3) medical emergencies 4) window shopping and cheese burgers dammit :) I think we the average folks are enslaved

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