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Space The Internet Technology

SpaceX Applies To Test Internet Service Satellites 50

Posted by samzenpus from the sky-web dept.
lpress writes: Elon Musk's SpaceX and Greg Wyler's OneWeb both hope to provide global Internet access using constellations of low-Earth orbit satellites. Neither company plans to be in operation for several years, but Musk's SpaceX is ready to test two satellites. They have applied for permission to launch two satellites that will orbit at 625 km. Time reports: "The application describes two satellites, the first of up to eight trial satellites that are each expected to last up to 12 months. The satellites will likely be built using the $1 billion that SpaceX raised mostly from Google earlier this year. For these first tests, the launch location will likely be Vandenberg Air Force Base on the California coast rather than Cape Canaveral in Florida, according to the orbital parameters in the application."
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SpaceX Applies To Test Internet Service Satellites More

SpaceX Applies To Test Internet Service Satellites

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  • Dang, am I sounding like a fanboi or what?

    • Re:GO SpaceX! GO SpaceX! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by rmdingler ( 1955220 ) on Wednesday June 03, 2015 @07:14PM (#49835897) Journal

      Dang, am I sounding like a fanboi or what?

      Maybe, but there are worse things to get behind.

      Though years from implementing the the string of geosynchronous satellites that are predicted to make internet access into a truly worldwide web, these first two test satellites are an encouraging step in that direction.

      I think many of us like Elon Musk because he represents what we hope we would become if we suddenly became youngish billionaires.

      • Yeah, he is the sort of guy you would expect to strap a nuclear reactor to a comet in order to help save the human gene pool

        • Then almost having his plan inadvertently demolished by Hillary Clinton. Yep, I just read the novel too.

          • Yeah, I really enjoyed it, but I read JBF as a 'what if Carly Fiorina got elected', because Hillary is just too old to take the g-force of launch

            To be honest I hope that it is a series like Baroque Cycle

      • And... these are not going to be geosynchronous, they are in a lower LEO than Iridium so they will require a denser network of satellites to cover the planet

        On the good side they will have much less latency than GEO

        I remember seeing the assembly line for Iridium satellites and the excitement over the endless launches (on everything from Long March to Atlas) and thinking, "Mother of God, this is what we should be doing!"

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by rmdingler ( 1955220 )

          Geosynchronous or not.

          It's being reported both ways. The Seattle Times version is they plan to deploy 4000 geosynchronous satellites, and Business Week says 700 low-earth orbit satellites.

          It's plausible the test satellites will be a determining factor, and IIRC, Wyler has some advantage in spectrum rights. What I do find interesting is that Musk's chief competitor is Greg Wyler, a former Google hand, and Google/Fidelity committed a $billion US to Musk's company for a 10% stake.

          We can perhaps all agree it is a very cool time to

          • Re:GO SpaceX! GO SpaceX! (Score:4, Informative)

            by garyisabusyguy ( 732330 ) on Wednesday June 03, 2015 @08:26PM (#49836265)

            Yeah, I think that Seattle Times is confused, here is a decent article from Extreme Tech
            http://www.extremetech.com/ext... [extremetech.com]

            It comes down to GEO requires fewer satellites to cover the planet (because they have a wider horizon) but sucks because of long latency for travel time, i.e. HughesNet, compared to a lot of satellites to cover the planet in a lower orbit

            It would not take 4000 satellites to cover the planet in GEO, but it would in a LEO where each low orbiting satellite has a limited view of the planet. You also get the advantages of shorter latency the closer that the satellite is to perpendicular over your head (closer to 5 thousands of a second than half a second). With a high density you also have easier handshaking between satellites and spread your customers out over more satellites for better bandwidth (both problems that Iridium faced)

            I think that Virgin Galactic also made a pre-announcement for building a LEO network

            Good times, good times

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by sconeu ( 64226 )

          Geosync gives you a 250ms one way latency and a 1/2 second round trip latency.

          Unavoidable due to speed of light.

          • not to mention it gets a whole lot worse if you need to make more than one satellite hop, and the cables at the end(s) of the communication add their lag as well. The real average latency experienced by satellite internet users is usually around 640ms round-trip.

          • Geosync gives you a 250ms one way latency and a 1/2 second round trip latency.

            Unavoidable due to speed of light.

            Hmm, speed of light is ~300Mm/sec. a 250ms latency one way to Geosync would set Geosync at 75000 km up.

            Alas, Geosync is rather lower than that. Closer to 42000 km, in fact. Which implies a latency of 140ms to 150ms one way....

            • I think the "one-way" is between you and your server elsewhere on earth's surface, not between you and the satellite. so, the distance for one-way is really a round-trip to the satellite. you sending a package, and then receiving one back will basically take two round trips to the orbit.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by sconeu ( 64226 )

                Yes... this was my intent.

                client => GEO => Server = 45000 miles = 0.25 seconds

                round trip: Client => GEO => Server => GEO => Client = 90000 miles = 0.5 seconds

      • Geosync satellites won't work (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Geosynchronous orbit is too high and latency is a problem.

        The idea is to have smaller and very cheap satellites in a low orbit instead. That gives better signal levels and keeps latency down ( if you can solve the hand-off issues and keep enough birds in the air.).

        Maintenance might be less of an issue as well if you just keep replacing/updating them as they drop out of orbit.

  • You need to answer "Vandenberg Space Industries" and tell them that we're a Space Textiles Manufacturer and I'm the best Space Latex Salesman you've got.

    Thanks!!1!

  • it would be a shame if something happened to it....like too much stuff in the way.
  • There are tons people who could raise money to launch satellites. Please concentrate on delivering the 40K sedan with 200 mile per charge range. As if he is going to listen to some random /.tter....

  • Elon Musk's philosophy is apparently, "If you want something done right, do it yourself." It seems to be working for him, so I guess you can't argue with it.

    I wonder what Iridium thinks, considering they have a launch contract with SpaceX. For which they have undoubtedly put money down, thereby helping to fund this effort.

  • Since the application is at FCC and not FAA, I assume the permission is about using radio spectrum within US territory, rather than launching a spacecraft.

    That leads me to a question: at what altitude do you get outside of a country national space (and therefore you do not have to ask a regulator for using radio spectrum)?

  • It's Astrolink all over again - something that failed 15 years ago.

    • The Internet was a very different place 15 years ago! Also, satellites were less advanced, bandwidth demand was lower, launch costs were higher, and Elon Musk wasn't behind the project.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Z00L00K ( 682162 )

        And one of the reasons why Astrolink failed was due to the deployment of land based internet, mainly DSL that did pull the plug on it.

  • Buzzword bingo, perhaps, but applicable in this case. What I see him doing is leveraging the specific techs of some businesses that are successful and applying them to other industries. The in-home battery business benefits from the success of Solar City, and the in-home battery business reduces the price of Tesla batteries and reduces the risk of a bad year decimating Tesla. SpaceX reduces the price of satellite launches, but requires constant launches to remain stable. So how about creating a satellit

  • Ettus and GNURadio in SPACE! (Score:3)

    by Muad'Dave ( 255648 ) on Thursday June 04, 2015 @09:57AM (#49839103) Homepage

    How very cool - they're using an Ettus Research software-defined radio [ettus.com]! I'm not sure if they'll be using the GNURadio stack to interface to the radio or not, but it's nice to see such an Amateur Radio friendly company get some cred.

    From their application, they're looking to use 10.95-11.05 GHz downlinks with an transmitter power of 4 W, an EIRP of 1.1 kW (which implies at least a 24.4 dBi antenna), a bandwidth of 85.8 MHz, and a modulation scheme that uses a single channel with amplitude and phase modulation (QAM, likely) and a mix of content - video, phone, etc.

    They also have 8GHz low-power downlinks at 11.6 GHz bandwidth.

    8027.50000000-8087.50000000 MHz MO 20.000000 W 19.300000 W P 0.00100000 % 11M6G1D

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