Musk files to provide Internet service from space • Hacker News Board

Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space

#11

Post by cdash » Wed, Jun 10, 2015, 2:02 AM UTC

fivedogit wrote: post #7

My 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…

Because, communication satellites are not currently 380 miles above earth but 22k miles above earth.

Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space

#12

Post by greglindahl » Wed, Jun 10, 2015, 2:02 AM UTC

yincrash wrote: post #10

fivedogit wrote: post #7

My 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

SpaceX is proposing putting them @ 1,100km.

The speed of light is faster in space than it is in optical fibre.

Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space

#13

Post by dankohn1 » Wed, Jun 10, 2015, 2:03 AM UTC

I was Director of Marketing with Teledesic, Craig McCaw and Bill Gates's Internet-in-the-Sky from 1995 to 2000. I'm a huge fan of what Musk is doing, with order of magnitude cheaper launch costs and satellite hardware. AMA.

Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space

#14

Post by coryl » Wed, Jun 10, 2015, 2:05 AM UTC

greglindahl wrote: post #12

yincrash wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

~250ms RT latency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_Internet_access#Signa... Hubble is a pretty low orbit. Geostationary orbits are @ 36,000km

SpaceX is proposing putting them @ 1,100km. The speed of light is faster in space than it is in optical fibre.

The speed of light is faster in space than it is in optical fibre.

Could you elaborate? Thanks

Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space

#15

Post by dublinben » Wed, Jun 10, 2015, 2:06 AM UTC

ourmandave wrote: post #3

If 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.

Is there no room for competing networks offering global internet access?

Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space

#16

Post by savage_platypus » Wed, Jun 10, 2015, 2:08 AM UTC

Great, another pipe-dream to sell to his investor fan club.

Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space

#17

Post by toomuchtodo » Wed, Jun 10, 2015, 2:09 AM UTC

savage_platypus wrote: post #16

Great, another pipe-dream to sell to his investor fan club.

As opposed to current pipe dreams:

* gigafactory under construction

* freemont factory producing ~50K vehicles/year

* spacex successfully, repeatedly delivering payloads to orbit (and successfully demonstrating their crew escape vehicle recently)

Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space

#18

Post by toomuchtodo » Wed, Jun 10, 2015, 2:11 AM UTC

coryl wrote: post #14

greglindahl wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SpaceX is proposing putting them @ 1,100km. The speed of light is faster in space than it is in optical fibre.

The speed of light is faster in space than it is in optical fibre. Could you elaborate? Thanks

http://www.rpi.edu/dept/phys/Dept2/APPhys1/optics/optics/nod...

Speed of light in vacuum > speed of light in optical fiber. Same reason high frequency traders are using microwave between Chicago and New York instead of a fiber connection.

Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space

#19

Post by shabble » Wed, Jun 10, 2015, 2:11 AM UTC

dankohn1 wrote: post #13

I was Director of Marketing with Teledesic, Craig McCaw and Bill Gates's Internet-in-the-Sky from 1995 to 2000. I'm a huge fan of what Musk is doing, with order of magnitude cheaper launch costs and satellite hardware. AMA.

How far did you get? What went wrong? What sort of latency/bandwidth did you expect to achieve? Was it relaying via geosynch/higher orbit 'hubs' or peer to peer sideways routing?

Re: Musk files to provide Internet service from space

#20

Post by grecy » Wed, Jun 10, 2015, 2:11 AM UTC

dankohn1 wrote: post #13

I was Director of Marketing with Teledesic, Craig McCaw and Bill Gates's Internet-in-the-Sky from 1995 to 2000. I'm a huge fan of what Musk is doing, with order of magnitude cheaper launch costs and satellite hardware. AMA.

How will devices on the ground communicate with the satellites? i.e. do we still need fixed dishes, or are we looking at something new so an iPhone can get signal right from the satellite?