SpaceX launched the first 60 of their low earth orbit internet satellites last month. Only testing versions, without the vaunted satellite to satellite communication lasers, but if that technology really works and SpaceX get it into orbit faster than anyone else (they sure have the capability) SpaceX could become a global juggernaut.
It's interesting how open they are about their business practices. Live streaming everything, giving info about rocket development.
Cool clip from the detachable fairing in their recent launch. I think fairing means nose cone. It's like science fiction FX, but it's real.
As I understand it, those satellites are mainly to bring web to dark corners of the earth. Fine. Those of.us who need low latency will never use it.
So.my reaction is "oh.great, now they last billion peeps on earth can tell me they banged my mom "
General Space Thread
Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2019 12:34 pm
by Troy
GORDON wrote: As I understand it, those satellites are mainly to bring web to dark corners of the earth. Fine. Those of.us who need low latency will never use it.
So.my reaction is "oh.great, now they last billion peeps on earth can tell me they banged my mom "
Thats true, but because the satellites will be placed into low earth orbit, unlike current satellite internet, the signal should be much faster going from planet to satellites and back.
Then, consider that the signals will travel satellite to satellite in a vacuum. Faster than terrersterial wires.
For shorter, state to state range, wired is likely to still be king. But coast to coast or cross continent should see a substantial improvement. SpaceX is still being mum on official specs, but some of the modeling I’ve seen basically makes the entire world at 50-60ms pings. If they can pull it off - to even get the system in place requires 1k satellites. 10k is what they are going for, in multiple interlinked orbits.