Lifeboat Foundation

SpaceX’s Starlink has showed its utility in connecting far-flung locations to the internet quickly and relatively simply in Washington, where like much of the west coast wildfires have caused enormous damage to rural areas. A couple small towns in the state have received Starlink connections to help locals and emergency workers.

The town of Malden was almost completely destroyed, but restoration efforts are underway, and of course it helps to be able to access the internet for communicating with residents and authorities. With power and cellular service unreliable, satellite internet is a good temporary option, and Starlink stepped up.

As SpaceX founder Elon Musk said on Twitter, the company is prioritizing emergency responders and areas without internet:

SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet network has been used in the field by Washington state emergency responders in recent weeks.

New research shows Elon Musk’s broadband network could be tweaked to work as an alternative to GPS.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Monday reiterated the likelihood that his private space company will likely take its Starlink satellite internet service public in the coming years.

“We will probably IPO Starlink, but only several years in the future when revenue growth is smooth & predictable,” Musk said in a tweet. “Public market does not like erratic cash flow haha.”

SpaceX leadership has previously discussed the idea, with company President Gwynne Shotwell in February telling a group of investors in February that “Starlink is the right kind of business that we can go ahead and take public,” adding that the company could spin it off.

The United States Air Force signed a deal with SpaceX valued at around $28 million in 2018, to assess the Starlink network’s performance on military platforms. The Air Force is actively experimenting with how space-based internet could enhance Multi-Domain Operations (MDO). These operations require moving vast quantities of data between the five domains of warfare: ground, sea, sky, outer space, and cyberspace. The military needs a reliable communication system at all times to protect and defend the country from potential threats. The assessment of Starlink will offer the military insight on whether it should purchase Starlink service long-term.

U.S. Air Force Chief for Acquisition Dr. Will Roper, who serves as the principal adviser for technology research and development, met with reporters to discuss a live-fire military exercise that took place early this month, Investors news reports. During the conference, Roper shared SpaceX’s Starlink network was tested during the live-fire exercise as part of the military’s Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS). – “What I’ve seen from Starlink has been impressive and positive,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “They’re cleverly engineered satellites cleverly deployed. So, there’s a lot to learn from how they’re designed and I think that there’s a lot we can learn from them.”

Roper shared that the Air Force connected Starlink to a “variety of air and terrestrial assets”. Starlink terminals are hooked to the cockpit of a Boeing (BA) KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft to assess the network’s performance while the airplanes fly.

Part of my series countering common misconceptions in space journalism.

This blog is a follow on to my original post on Starlink. Starlink is an emerging high performance satellite-based internet routing network developed by SpaceX. Its ultimate purpose is to become the de-facto internet backbone provider, connect billions more people to the internet, and revolutionize access to space.

Continue reading “Starlink packet routing” »

“Computer network attack against Indian satellite communications in 2017” is one among a slew of counter-space activities carried out by China since 2007, listed in a new report by US-based China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI), which provides China’s space narrative among other things.

Isro, while conceding that cyber-attacks are a constant threat, maintains that its systems has not been compromised so far.

The 142-page report notes that between 2012 and 2018, China carried out multiple cyber-attacks, but elaborates on the result only in one case.

From the beginning, SpaceX has had a goal of bringing high speed internet service to underserved locations, creating competition in areas that currently have limited options or, in many cases, monopolies causing higher prices.

With its constellation of low orbit satellites, Starlink will be able to shake up the broadband industry by offering a new category of broadband. Without the need to place expensive infrastructure like underground or pole-based wiring required for current broadband options, SpaceX could more easily reach rural areas and begin to close the digital divide.

A study from Broadband Now shows that, in addition to working toward closing that gap, introducing a new internet provider could reduce the price of internet service by up to 40%. The chart below shows how adding additional providers in an area significantly reduces the average monthly cost of internet service.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8egE31KKKz8&feature=youtu.be

The Horizon 2020 EU-funded MOSAR project (MOdular Spacecraft Assembly and Reconfiguration) aims to develop a ground demonstrator for on-orbit modular and reconfigurable satellites.

The project will investigate and demonstrate technologies that enable a fundamental paradigm shift in satellite design and deployment that could potentially impact all future space missions.

Continue reading “MOSAR. A Modular and Reconfigurable Future for Space Missions” »