Category Archives: Space

Part 3/3 – Four tech leaps changing satellite broadband economics

Mega constellations, facilitated by laser, rocket, and antenna innovations will change the economics of satellite-provided broadband. Inter-Satellite Link (ISL). This allows satellites in a constellation to link to one another using lasers. Since 2001 governments (NASA, ESA, Japan, Germany), and companies (Google, Facebook) have been testing space communications. The most recent batch of Starlink has …

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Part 2/3 – Six LEO mega-constellations changing satellite broadband

Geostationary constellations cannot provide broadband internet because of their orbit 35,000 kilometers from earth. Each one-way takes 116 milliseconds (35.000,000 m / 299 792 458 m/s = 116 ms). This route is doubled and more as the signal returns from space, then terrestrial and subsea cables to the most proximal data center. This trip length …

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Part 1/3 – The promise of satellite-powered WiFi

There are still too many places and devices where broadband access is unreliable or doesn’t exist for everyday use and emergencies. LEO satellite breakthroughs will change that. I’ll explore this in a 3-part series. In the 1980s and 1990s ground cables powered BBS’s and university WANs through modems. In the 2000s and 2010s upgraded ground …

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Dropping a falcon feather and hammer on the moon

On the moon in 1971, Commander David Scott dropped a hammer and a falcon feather to validate Galileo’s theory that without air resistance, objects fall at the same rate due to gravity regardless of mass. Given the negligible lunar atmosphere, there was no drag on the feather, both experienced the same acceleration, and both hit …

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