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Elon Musk said SpaceX's multi 1000 satellite Internet service will be IP-less

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Re: Elon Musk said SpaceX's multi 1000 satellite Internet service will be IP-less

#2
It's not "internet" then, it's a communications network. On top of which third parties will probably implement IP. He also says peer to peer, but perhaps he just means point-to-point, in which case it will be very similar to existing satellite communications network, perhaps just more and faster.

Re: Elon Musk said SpaceX's multi 1000 satellite Internet service will be IP-less

#3
For those of you in the know here. Is this a realistic project/enterprise he is working on?

Seems both costly to deploy that many satellites and risky in the sense that you can't count on getting a lot of customers. Especially with the new super speedy 5G networks and so on.

Re: Elon Musk said SpaceX's multi 1000 satellite Internet service will be IP-less

#8
post #5

So the topography here is: Individual router satellite mesh net SpaceX router connected to the internet. Is there any reason why the protocol between satellites matters? They clearly aren't aiming for interoperability with other companies.

Elon probably wants a mesh net so that SpaceX plans on satellites either failing or being able to add capacity at will. Elon designs his systems to be cheaper by making the systems more fault tolerant so it seems like that pattern would extend to this network. Also, he will be using extra capacity from SpaceX having more launch windows to put the satellites in orbit.

Re: Elon Musk said SpaceX's multi 1000 satellite Internet service will be IP-less

#9

For those of you in the know here. Is this a realistic project/enterprise he is working on? Seems both costly to deploy that many satellites and risky in the sense that you can't count on getting a lot of customers. Especially with the new super speedy 5G networks and so on.

Even in the developed world, coverage of high speed wireless broadband (e.g. 3G and up) isn't complete. In the less developed world the coverage is even worse[1].

I don't know the costs to set up and run the network, but I do feel like there is a large possible customer base.

[1] https://opensignal.com/reports/2016/08/global-state-of-the-m...

Re: Elon Musk said SpaceX's multi 1000 satellite Internet service will be IP-less

#10
post #7

How will this actually work? Will individuals be able to tap into it skipping the local ISP? I also wonder how the issue of government censorship/control be dealt with in various countries around the world.

It would be nice if it used unlicensed spectrum in all countries, and then all anyone would have to do to connect to the SpaceX internet is get their hands on a modem that supports it. That would be very liberating for many countries, and I'm not sure there would be much the local governments could do other than throw a tantrum. They could start requiring a license for all free spectrum, but that would have non-insignificant consequences for their local economy, too.
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