Musk files to provide Internet service from space
washingtonpost.com
Musk files to provide Internet service from space
1–10 of 129 posts
Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space
#2Musk claims to want to launch 4,000 or so satellites. The Goddard Space Flight Center indicates that there are 2,271 satellites in orbit now.
I'm wondering to what degree this would make it more likely to have a negative feedback loop of satellite destruction in the case of a satellite being hit by space junk.
Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space
#3If this were to ultimately succeed in cheap internet everywhere, it doesn't bode well for other projects like Google's Loon.
Unless they can do it cheaper I suppose.
Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space
#4If this were to ultimately succeed in cheap internet everywhere, it doesn't bode well for other projects like Google's Loon. https://www.google.com/loon/ Unless they can do it cheaper I suppose.
Additional article:
http://spacenews.com/spacex-google-matchup-sets-up-satellite...
Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space
#5Musk claims to want to launch 4,000 or so satellites. The Goddard Space Flight Center indicates that there are 2,271 satellites in orbit now. I'm wondering to what degree this would make it more likely to have a negative feedback loop of satellite destruction in the case of a satellite being hit by space junk.
The problem has to do with cross-section -- these satellites will each be small, a few hundred kilograms each. In comparison, cubesats are 1-3 kg, and big satellites, which are most of the existing ones, are a few tons of mass each.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome
Also, with satellites at 1,100 km, they'll be above all the crap in LEO.
Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space
#6Interestingly, Facebook just announces that they are giving up on a project to do just that.
http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-scraps-secret-plan-t...
Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space
#7My first thought, here, was "Well what about the speed of light? Wouldn't that cause satellite internet service to suck, just like it does now? And isn't that why news correspondents are always delayed?"
But then I did the math:
Speed of light = 186 miles per millisecond. Satellites orbit at about 380 miles above earth (Source: Hubble). So it only takes ~4 ms for a round trip to a satellite directly above?
I did not know that. Weird, wild stuff.
If someone knows specifics about why satellite communication is currently so slow (both internet and video), I'd be interested in the EL5 version.
Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space
#8Interestingly, Facebook just announces that they are giving up on a project to do just that. http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-scraps-secret-plan-t...
It looks like the approach was different: instead of having several thousand of small and 'cheap' satellites, they were aiming for an expensive and big one.
Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space
#9My first thought, here, was "Well what about the speed of light? Wouldn't that cause satellite internet service to suck, just like it does now? And isn't that why news correspondents are always delayed?" But then I did the math: Speed of light = 186 miles per millisecond. Satellites orbit at about 380 miles above earth (Source: Hubble). So it only takes ~4 ms for a round trip to a satellite directly above? I did not…
Unless the content you're accessing is hosted on the satellite, it will have to jump several more times over a much longer distance for a complete round trip. Can you factor that in to your estimate?
Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space
#10My first thought, here, was "Well what about the speed of light? Wouldn't that cause satellite internet service to suck, just like it does now? And isn't that why news correspondents are always delayed?" But then I did the math: Speed of light = 186 miles per millisecond. Satellites orbit at about 380 miles above earth (Source: Hubble). So it only takes ~4 ms for a round trip to a satellite directly above? I did not…
~250ms RT latency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_Internet_access#Signa...
Hubble is a pretty low orbit. Geostationary orbits are @ 36,000km