Starlink, The Internet in Space
For most of us, having a network of thousands of satellites in space seems unnecessary, so why are some companies investing billions of dollars to create one? Leading the charge for this movement is none other than Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. SpaceX, among others, were granted permission by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to set up a vast network of low level satellites that are designed to communicate with data centers all over the Earth.
SpaceX’s project is called “Starlink”, which is aiming to initially start testing with 1,600 satellites orbiting between 1100–1300 kilometers up in the sky, but aim to have 4,425 total satellites once the network is complete. Musk has said that once the network is full functional, they plan to expand to as many as 16,000 satellites, which is a far greater number than the current number of active satellites that are orbiting around the globe, only about 5,000. So how will these satellites work? When sending an internet message via Starlink, a ground station will begin by using radio waves to talk to a satellite above it. Once in space, the message will be fired from satellite to satellite using lasers until it is above its destination. From there, it will be beamed down to the right ground station using radio waves again.
These satellites are not going to be cheap to produce or maintain. Each Starlink satellite is projected to only last a few years, so SpaceX will need to launch new satellites to replace dead ones every few weeks once the system is in place. “To maintain just 4,425, you’re going to be launching that number every five years,” says Hugh Lewis at the University of Southampton. With the cost of launching a small group of 50–60 satellites estimated to be close to $10,000,000, why would anyone be interested in taking on such a project, and what are the real benefits?
The first major benefit would be the global widespread availability of internet, something that hasn’t been capable of being achieved across the globe so far. With a system like Starlink in place, you would be able to access the internet in remote places such as out at sea, or from the top of Mt. Everest, with just one little solar powered suitcase-sized box, to communicate with the nearest satellite. The second benefit is the data processing speeds that could be reached with such a network in place. Between distant places, Starlink will allow messages to be sent about twice as fast as through the optical fibers on Earth that currently connect the internet, despite having to travel to space and back. This is because the speed of the signal in glass is slower than it is through space.
For most people though, the internet is already fast enough, and with the cost of setting up Starlink being so high, regular consumers wouldn’t be willing to pay an even higher premium for slightly faster speeds; but for certain applications this change in speed could be vital. Some industries, such as international financial trading, could benefit greatly from a doubling in speed. In the world of high-frequency trading, fortunes can be made or lost in a matter of milliseconds, so bigger institutions would be more than willing to pay whatever cost it takes to get an advantage over someone else.
SpaceX has already started along their way to reaching their goal of 4,425 satellites by launching 60 of them as a small test just this month, on May 15th to be exact, so be sure to keep your eye out for more! As always, you are able to watch any of the SpaceX launches at the SpaceX website.
