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Amazon to acquire Globalstar and expand Amazon Leo satellite network

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Re: Amazon to acquire Globalstar and expand Amazon Leo satellite network

#11

Post by bigfatkitten »

piokoch wrote: post #4
kumarvvr wrote: post #2

So, Amazon wants to own the tubes too? I guess the stack should be completed with this. AWS servers, satellite communications, boxes to view content on TVs, apps on mobiles, content creation studios, advertising, product placement, product sales. Whew! I guess they also want expertise to launch stuff into space, in case it becomes feasible to run space data centers.

Why space data centers? What advantage this would have? Cooling will be a big issue, while it is easily solved on the planet earth, as we have water, air that can transfer heat away.

They don’t have any advantages at all.

People point to the cost of land, but if being physically inaccessible isn’t a problem, then there are lots of cheap places on Earth you can deploy data centres too at far lower cost than launching them into orbit.

Re: Amazon to acquire Globalstar and expand Amazon Leo satellite network

#12

Post by bigfatkitten »

kumarvvr wrote: post #2

So, Amazon wants to own the tubes too? I guess the stack should be completed with this. AWS servers, satellite communications, boxes to view content on TVs, apps on mobiles, content creation studios, advertising, product placement, product sales. Whew! I guess they also want expertise to launch stuff into space, in case it becomes feasible to run space data centers.

Probably for their existing L/S-band spectrum and carrier licenses.

Re: Amazon to acquire Globalstar and expand Amazon Leo satellite network

#13

Post by jameslk »

SpaceX and Amazon seem to be headed for competing with traditional telecoms and ISPs. I'm betting the next acquisition target will be AST SpaceMobile. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see big telecom/ISP mergers pass regulatory approval now that they have competition from the heavens

Re: Amazon to acquire Globalstar and expand Amazon Leo satellite network

#14

Post by pretendgeneer »

trhway wrote: post #10
piokoch wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why space data centers? What advantage this would have? Cooling will be a big issue, while it is easily solved on the planet earth, as we have water, air that can transfer heat away.

>Cooling will be a big issue a 1m2 at 70C radiates 785 Watt. Seems thet cooling will be more simple than on Earth.

A 1m2 heatsink/fan on earth can sink kWs. My heatpump is about 1m2 area and can sink 15kw. Seems earth is at least 20x times better.

Re: Amazon to acquire Globalstar and expand Amazon Leo satellite network

#15

Post by trhway »

pretendgeneer wrote: post #14
trhway wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Cooling will be a big issue a 1m2 at 70C radiates 785 Watt. Seems thet cooling will be more simple than on Earth.

A 1m2 heatsink/fan on earth can sink kWs. My heatpump is about 1m2 area and can sink 15kw. Seems earth is at least 20x times better.

in space 1m2 of thin metal will radiate those 785 watt. No fan, no heatpump, nothing. Only the launch cost. Which given the projected Starship launch cost will be cheaper than installation on Earth.

Re: Amazon to acquire Globalstar and expand Amazon Leo satellite network

#16

Post by trhway »

kumarvvr wrote: post #2

So, Amazon wants to own the tubes too? I guess the stack should be completed with this. AWS servers, satellite communications, boxes to view content on TVs, apps on mobiles, content creation studios, advertising, product placement, product sales. Whew! I guess they also want expertise to launch stuff into space, in case it becomes feasible to run space data centers.

They would also need to protect all this stuff spread globally and into the space. No government will be able to do that - like we've already seen with the datacenters being hit in the Gulf states. Company like AMZN will have all the components for the most modern weapon system - global autonomous drone offense and defense network with the space component (or imagine a 1 GW datacenter in space temporarily rerouting its power into a laser or a microwave effector 80-ies StarWars style :) plus de-facto global intelligence network that each of these companies have, and thus will have and will be able to better protect themselves. Those large BigTechs will unavoidably have to move into defense, for themselves and as-a-service for smaller transnationals.

Re: Amazon to acquire Globalstar and expand Amazon Leo satellite network

#17

Post by iso1631 »

trhway wrote: post #16
kumarvvr wrote: post #2

So, Amazon wants to own the tubes too? I guess the stack should be completed with this. AWS servers, satellite communications, boxes to view content on TVs, apps on mobiles, content creation studios, advertising, product placement, product sales. Whew! I guess they also want expertise to launch stuff into space, in case it becomes feasible to run space data centers.

They would also need to protect all this stuff spread globally and into the space. No government will be able to do that - like we've already seen with the datacenters being hit in the Gulf states. Company like AMZN will have all the components for the most modern weapon system - global autonomous drone offense and defense network with the space component (or imagine a 1 GW datacenter in space temporarily rerouting i…

There is a constant lack of acceptance of the privatisation of the world in the tech industry. Or of course people realise it but like it.

The randian matra of "Private = good, government = bad" always wins out

You end up with a private company run by the elite, not the people. One Dollar One Vote.

Re: Amazon to acquire Globalstar and expand Amazon Leo satellite network

#18

Post by iso1631 »

bigfatkitten wrote: post #11
piokoch wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why space data centers? What advantage this would have? Cooling will be a big issue, while it is easily solved on the planet earth, as we have water, air that can transfer heat away.

They don’t have any advantages at all. People point to the cost of land, but if being physically inaccessible isn’t a problem, then there are lots of cheap places on Earth you can deploy data centres too at far lower cost than launching them into orbit.

Desert land is free. Floating data centres in the middle of the pacific is free.

If a state, or even rich billionaire, wanted to take out your data centre in low earth orbit, it's only a few million dollars to launch a retrograde rocket which explodes into 10 ton of shrapnel, or even less to forget the orbit and just launch it directly up.

Re: Amazon to acquire Globalstar and expand Amazon Leo satellite network

#20

Post by sublinear »

piokoch wrote: post #4
kumarvvr wrote: post #2

So, Amazon wants to own the tubes too? I guess the stack should be completed with this. AWS servers, satellite communications, boxes to view content on TVs, apps on mobiles, content creation studios, advertising, product placement, product sales. Whew! I guess they also want expertise to launch stuff into space, in case it becomes feasible to run space data centers.

Why space data centers? What advantage this would have? Cooling will be a big issue, while it is easily solved on the planet earth, as we have water, air that can transfer heat away.

Defense systems in space need to be... in space.

I don't think people are looking at this the right way. They need to be inaccessible to terrestrial and air weapons, have lower latency, not be dependent on power plants, etc.

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