Posted on 11/21/2016 2:45:10 AM PST by LibWhacker
Teledesic
It would be a real tragedy if Musk were to increase access, bring competition , and lower the costs of broadband services the same as he’s done for launch services.
These satellites will be well above low earth orbit operations.
I hope Trump exposes such things, and those similar, to Americans who have been exploited and paid for said crap
Yeah, we need to prevent progress at all cost!
4000+ satellites doesn’t sound like geostationary if thats what your getting at. Sounds more like a cloud of fast-moving LEO satellites.
4000+ satellites doesn’t sound like geostationary if thats what your getting at. Sounds more like a cloud of fast-moving LEO satellites.
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No, not geostationary. Another article said around 700 miles. That’s well above the ISS, but low enough to reduce latency compared to geostationary.
Latency will suck bigly. How does 500-600 msec (on a good day) sound? 800 - 1200 msec or worse is more like what you’ll get.
Are you thinking of the sat phone business called Iridium?
After launching its constellation of satellites, they went bankrupt. Another company bought up the assets for pennies on the dollar.
I recall seeing some graphics of all the “space junk” filling Earth’s orbit.
Before adding to the clutter, maybe he could clean that up.
Iridium.
The technology wasn’t quite “there”, grounds units were bulky, service was very expensive (think $3/minute), and was quickly overrun by competing technology.
SpaceX has their own inexpensive launch service, technology costs have plummeted, and wired connectivity is being abandoned for wireless.
As I recall, the “Another company” was a Saudi.
Probably from his usual source: taxpayer-money “grants”. Hold on to your wallet1
“Near earth space will be awfully crowded.”
To wrap my mind around it on a much, much smaller scale, I can visualize 4,425 ‘red’ inner-tubes floating in the ocean. Wonder what the odds of 1,400 ‘blue’ inner-tubes (randomly) hitting a red one are? Add in another variable of weighing the tubes to submerge to different depths and the odds grow even more.
With so much stuff in orbit, we’ll have 40% less sunlight and a new ice age! < /enviro-weenie meltdown >
Thanks for the explanation. I had an image of a redux of the Iridium constellation as others have noted.
I remember a company called GlobeTel Communications Corp which had a platform called Stratellite. Interesting idea at the time but management and funding problems led to bankruptcy.
That was it. Iridium. How many millions did Rat politicians make on this and Global Crossing. Interesting they all abandoned ship just before both companies went belly up. Almost like they “knew” something.
Trump needs to halt all 'green' welfare handouts/subsidies.
I would say this is stupid. You do not need that many satellites. Ground stations could do this at a fraction of the cost.
First things first. The people need decent food and water and medicine in most of the world before internet. I suspect this is just another scam to get taxpayer money.
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