Above: Inspiration4 Crew Members / Photo / Netflix
What do a billionaire, cancer survivor, geoscientists and a data engineer have in common?
For the first time on the streaming platform, Netflix will offer a 5 part docuseries covering the SpaceX’s Inspiration4 Mission in near real-time.
The series will cover SpaceX’s first all civilian mission (no astronauts!) as they prepare and train for the mission, the live launch coverage from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as well as footage from inside the Crew Dragon spacecraft as the 4 passenger crew orbit the Earth on the 3 day mission.
Unlike recent flights from Virgin (Richard Branson) and Blue Orbit (Jeff Bezos) that led suborbital flights, Inspiration4 will reach higher altitudes than that of the International Space Station and make history as first all-civilian mission to orbit.
Multiple firsts and groundbreaking accomplishments that go beyond, way beyond…
Breakdown for Netflix’s “ Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space”
Monday, September 6: Meet the four civilians heading to space
Monday, September 13: Watch them prepare
Wednesday, September 15: Watch the live launch
Thursday, September 30: Spend time with the crew in space
The Inspiration4 Mission which was brokered as a private deal by 38 year old Jared Isaacman, CEO of Shift4 Payments with SpaceX.
Isaacman will lead the mission along with his 3 other crew members: 29 year old Hayley Arceneaux who will act as chief medical officer , 51 year old Dr. Sian Proctor (mission pilot), who will become the fourth Black female American in space and 41 year old Christopher Sembroski, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force who will be the mission’s specialist.
The mission also serves as a $200 million fundraising campaign for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
A day before the launch day, Netflix will also launch “A StoryBots Space Adventure” on Sept.14 which is a live-action/animation special where Inspration4 crew members will participate by answering some of kids’ most pressing space related questions.
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have both recently held the title of the world’s richest person. Currently the two were also in a competition with each other over a contract to design the Human-Landing vehicle for NASA’s up coming moon missions.
NASA had selected SpaceX as the sole contractor for the program, however, Bezos as a way to try to get the contract, offered in an open letter to forgo $2 billion in future payments.
A Tweet by Musk reacting to the news, including what appears to be a deflated prototype by Blue Origin, was also included in the new article by the Observer.
What began as a “Better Than Nothing Beta” is morphing into to a better than expected sign-up drive
According to SpaceX, there are now more than 1,000 subscribers actively using the service. With its current beta version, the Starlink satellite kit for both domestic and international, users can expect data speeds ranging from 50Mb/s to 150 Mb/s and latency from 20 to 40 ms.
In a response on Twitter, Musk promised that speeds would double to up to 300 Mb/s later this year. He also mentioned that the latency should improve to 20 ms.
“When satellites are far from Earth, latency is high, resulting in poor performance for activities like video calls and online gaming. Starlink satellites are over 60 times closer to Earth than traditional satellites, resulting in lower latency and the ability to support services typically not possible with traditional satellite internet,” based on the Starlink’s website.
Speed will double to ~300Mb/s & latency will drop to ~20ms later this year
The speed is the key and faster (with lower latency) is what everyone needs
300 Mb/s will be a very welcome speed upgrade, particularly for those in low to medium population density areas that are the primary target. Musk noted that those in city and urban areas, cellular will often have more advantages than satellites since those systems will be improving also, with 5g roll outs, for example.
Musk’s goal is to have most of the Earth covered and at least partially subscribed by 2022.
Most of Earth by end of year, all by next year, then it’s about densifying coverage.
Important to note that cellular will always have the advantage in dense urban areas.
Satellites are best for low to medium population density areas.
Those living in rural areas of the UK and using the beta version of the Starlink satellite are already seeing higher-than-originally-promised internet speeds.
Many who had previously only had traditional (traditionally slow and bad that is) satellite internet were astounded by the extent of the improvement, and pleasantly surprised on measurements how fast the service already is, considering there are many continuous improvements yet to come.
According to an interview from one user who lives in Bredgar, Kent, his household’s service often lagged between .05 and 1 Mb/s making simple tasks like streaming Netflix or downloading video games impossible or nearly so. Using Starlink he now averages 175 Mbps to 215 Mbps which a stark difference than his prior service.
For the rest of this year and into the foreseeable future more Starlink satellites are expected to be launched into orbit nearly every week, and the eventual total could reach over 30,000, the number already approved by the FCC (max total 42,000!). It is unclear if that number will be necessary, or ever achieved, but the service will see steady improvements as the total density increases.
Also, Musk has indicated that, beginning in 2022, there will be a new satellite design upgrade featuring laser systems to allow for satellite to satellite interaction. Speeds after those improvements come online might eventually reach 2Gbps which is faster than the terrestrial fiber systems currently available to consumers.
If you want to order, or pre-order with a timeline based on the availability in your area, you can register on the Starlink website. Bear in mind that the program is currently limited to users in select regions in the Northern US, Canada and the UK. The price for the Beta service is $99 a month plus a $499 one-time fee for the equipment.
The Confusion around 5G goes far beyond the political-nonsense conspiracy theories
Most articles on 5G since the Apple iPhone 12 launch event on October 13th have been looking in the rearview mirror to predict the future: 5G will “disappoint” due to the slow buildout, technical limitations of the format, and various issues with all the competing systems and carriers, and these arguments are casting doubt on the much touted potential.
This perspective misses the point on so many levels, it’s difficult to know where to begin to unpack the myriad of misunderstandings.
Much of the technical discussion has been focused on the various flavors of 5G and the associated limitations and advantages of each. The fact that the fastest 5G, which goes by the sub-category moniker millimeter wave, is not instantly available everywhere for the 5G capable iPhones, and that they will not be in the hands of most consumers before next year, has been met with feigned shock and bewilderment.
And further, many highlight the confusion mounting over the various providers and the various flavors: 5G, 5G E, 5G UW or 5G+ as they are designated by “service indicators” on the iPhone 12 itself. Verizon Communications Inc., T-Mobile US Inc. and AT&T Inc. each have their own systems they have developed and are building out – looking for a piece of the 5G market, expected to be around $1.15 trillion by 2025.
First and foremost – since Apple and iPhone are the leader of all innovations in the marketplace – not necessarily by the sheer number of handsets sold, but by the focus on increasing technical and aesthetic quality, and appealing to the top demographic, not to mention the majority of early adopters, it is precisely the fact that, until now, the iPhone 5G handset did not yet exist, that the buildout is not further along.
The fact that, in real-world tests, it is already performing at up to 7 times the fastest previously available connections, was coupled inevitably with the caveat; physical locations where these speeds can be accomplished are currently hard to find.
Due to the technical issues with this ultra-high speed version of 5G; the inability to travel more than very short distances and the lack of ability to penetrate obstacles or walls, the possibility to get these amazing speeds are, at present, more likely to be found at outdoor locations.
This is, admittedly, an odd conundrum, but you can be sure, with the upcoming massive increase in competition for ISP customers, it is one that will find at least some viable solutions very soon. There are many billions at stake for those that can find ways to improve this issue.
“Standing in front of a camera store in South of Market, I got 5G speeds reaching 2,160 megabits a second, which was 2,900 percent faster than 4G. Even where it was a tad slower — behind the Safeway parking lot in the Marina district — the 5G iPhone drew speeds of 668 megabits a second, which was 1,052 percent faster than 4G.”
– Brian X. Chen for the New York Times
The carriers have not had the market to build for, and needed to be pushed by a huge influx of iPhone 12 owners. Then, meaning now, they will begin to compete with one another for that extremely lucrative group of users. That rising competitive battle is not the only one looming on the horizon.
Regardless of the ultimate time frame of the build-out, there is an obvious and very meaningful conclusion that we can reach here: 1 year from now things will look very different in the options available for those who want to work and play with the help of a faster internet connection (meaning, obviously, everybody).
As can be seen from the chart above in early 2020 the US ranked 13th in desktop download speed while mobile speeds ranked even worse coming in at #33 (various sources have US at #10 for fixed broadband). Liechtenstein is nearly 4x faster, on average, than the US. Also note that the highest average is one-tenth to one-twentieth of the eventual “ideal conditions” speeds of 5G.
Failure of the US Broadband infrastructure and the coming shake-up in the ISP system grid-lock
The problem is not a technological one. The US lags behind due to the pseudo-geographical monopolies held by various ISPs and the ability they have enjoyed to be able to gouge customers with high priced, bad service. Lack of competition often results in slow progress, or no progress.
That is all about to change. You don’t need to have a technician to analyze the various 5G systems, or compare carriers chances of “winning” to realize that the very fact that speeds and options are increasing exponentially is going to re-write the map when it comes to who controls the cash-cow subscription gravy train. That system is about to collapse.
In steps Elon, and his little copy-cat-side-kick Jeffy Bezos, and the landscape is about to become unrecognizable
First, 5G speeds rival or exceed the former fixed / desktop speeds which had commanded a premium for the geographically entrenched providers. 5G home systems will be available in many areas that will be competitive in speed, price and convenience.
SpaceX’s Starlink, with nearly 1,000 satellites already in orbit out of an eventual 12,000, with launches continuing almost weekly with 60 in each launch, is a serious project. This ambitious plan will eventually encircle the Earth completely with interconnected satellites that will link through intermediary “ground stations” with up to 1 million planned for USA alone. Each ground station is just under 19 inches (.48 m) across.
“It looks like a UFO on a stick,” according to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk “It’s very important that you don’t need a specialist to install. The goal is for … just two instructions and they can be done in either order: Point at sky, plug in.”
Satellite Broadband, such as SpaceX’s Starlink will not only add ubiquitous 100mbps and higher, low latency coverage, it will also cover the same areas with high population density, major cities, where both current systems and 5G are also focusing.
Exact pricing is as yet unknown, but it is very likely that there will be a high-pitched battle over customers, once the various systems go into the next phase of the rollout. And all of this is not factoring in additional players in 5G and satellite systems.
Longer term (2 years +) there will be major world-wide implications of this shift, toward more and faster options in internet connectivity
The first shift, primarily driven by the geographical independence of satellite broadband, such as Starlink, will be a decentralization of populations at massive scale. While we are looking at a world where, due to the current pandemic countermeasures, WFH a.k.a. work from home is becoming more than a temporary factor. As many as 20 major companies such as Google and Microsoft have announced extended or permanent work-from-home policies as of October 2020.
There are plenty of very serious discussions about what will be done with all the skyscrapers and office buildings once there are no workers to fill the offices. This is not idle chit-chat. A migration has already begun away from the insanely overpriced rents and home prices to take advantage of the work-from-home-anywhere approach.
Extrapolate, based on increased speed and availability of connectivity to millions of locations not currently viable, will soon have internet at minimum speeds rivaling the current world champion Liechtenstein (see above), and you see the beginnings of an exodus of epic proportions. Just in time for economic upheaval, due to the aftermath of the still ongoing global pandemic, and yes, the issues of accelerated global warming, which will, coincidentally, affect costal “elite” cities like Miami, San Francisco, New York and others around the world to a disproportionally large degree.
“The reality is that a technological utopian vision, one where the world is able to shift to sustainable energy and regenerative farming, and create economies based on prosperous and equal distribution of the wealth generated by those systems (along with AI plus robot technology (powered by sustainable clean energy), can only be realized by an acceleration of learning and positive social change. “
-DL
These changes, to be clear, are not all “bad” nor are they all the cause of negative side-effects such as the current covid-19 outbreak.
The reality is that a technological utopian vision, one where the world is able to shift to sustainable energy and regenerative farming, and create economies based on prosperous and equal distribution of the wealth generated by those systems, (along with AI, robot technology powered by sustainable clean energy), can only be realized by an acceleration of learning and positive social change.
Change is urgently needed to build out the human networked-communication-system that will enable the learning and cooperation which is the only hope for the survival of our species. 5G, the iPhone 12 and SpaceX’s Starlink Satellite Broadband are going to be huge factors, in making the first baby-steps toward that change, possible.
728 Successfully deployed satellites is one step closer to global broadband coverage
From the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk launched his twelfth Starlink Mission on Tuesday morning. With this latest launch from the company, SpaceX is now just a few dozen satellites away from providing a significant portion of North America with broadband access.
SpaceX started the Starlink project in 2019 with the goal of creating a constellation of satellites that will eventually provide the entire world with broadband Internet. After this morning’s launch— which carried 60 satellites—there are a reported 728 total satellites in orbit, just under the 800 required to achieve the goal across a moderate section of America.
With the 728 alone, however, SpaceX has already hit a milestone. According to Musk in a Tweet, Starlink is now able to run a public beta test in the northern U.S. and parts of southern Canada.
Once these satellites reach their target position, we will be able to roll out a fairly wide public beta in northern US & hopefully southern Canada. Other countries to follow as soon as we receive regulatory approval.
Eventual wide-adoption could break cable monopolies, increase decentralization and freedom
Starlink has been running private beta tests since July, allowing a handful of SpaceX employees and emergency service personnel to try out the system. Already, it has done some good in the world, as first responders in rural Washington state reportedly used Starlink to efficiently communicate during this summer’s wildfires.
Optimistically, people in rural parts of the world are the ones who stand to benefit the most from Starlink. Rather than settle for slow or outmoded forms of internet connection, Starlink will provide fast broadband to even the most remote regions. For this reason, SpaceX has applied to the Federal Communications Commission’s $16-billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to bridge the country’s digital divide.
In modern America—especially since COVID-19 has rendered so much remote and online—quality Internet access is nothing short of a necessity. Sadly, not all Americans have broadband, leaving troves of people without the proper tools for effective communication, information, and even education. Starlink could be the answer to this crisis of disconnection.
The project still has a ways to go, but the public beta could be a big step towards a brighter future. Already hundreds of thousands are interested in Starlink, and the public beta will better reflect its performance and utility on a broader scale.
Another successful lift-off and milestone achieved for Elon Musk’s space company
SpaceX welcomed back its Falcon 9 as the company caught its rocket head (payload fairings) using a large net in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. This is the third time in less than thirty days that SpaceX has successfully retrieved its rocket head marking a significant milestone for the company. With an additional launch currently scheduled for August 27, 2020.
The payload fairing – the rocket’s nose splits into two as it comes back from orbit, both of which are equipped with a parachute and autopilot guidance software for the recovery. The two boats to catch each of the two fairings, Ms. Tree and Ms. Chief patiently waited for the rocket to come back to Earth. As you can see from the video, the company makes retrieving the fairing look extremely relaxing and seamless (cue elevator music).
The Falcon 9, which is currently SpaceX’s largest rocket was launched on August 18, 2020 for the 40th time and this also marks a record-breaking 6 times that the Falcon has used the same booster. Eco-friendly and climate conscious, Musk has been praised for his ingenuity to recover and be able to build reusable rockets, which also significantly cuts expenses on the previously extreme high cost of space launches.
During the August 18, 2020 launch that took place at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the latest batch of 58 satellites were sent to orbit for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network. This marks the 11th batch of Starlink satellites sent to orbit. To-date, SpaceX has launched almost 600 satellites for its Starlink initiative.
Starlink is planning to deliver high speed broadband internet in the Northern United States and Canada As soon as September, in a limited test phase, then with full access during 2020. They then will expand for full global coverage by 2021.
Tech Titans Race to “Give” Internet to Off-The-Grid Populations Across the Globe –
Bezos, Branson, Zuckerberg, Musk, Google, Softbank, Airbus are all vying to own the sky. There are also few companies without the marquee star power in the mix.
Something must be driving the world’s wealthiest into a race against each other to be the first to provide satellite internet access to the poorest and least connected on earth.
It’s all about the Zettabytes
For one, the numbers are staggering: an estimated 4 billion “customers” are not yet connected worldwide. “Unserved” and “Underserved” are the buzzwords, with the majority residing in Africa, India, and parts of South America.
In case you’re not Zetta-aware, a Zettabyte is one trillion Gigabytes, which is the approximate total amount of yearly internet traffic as of 2016.
Expectations for 2020 are in the 2.3 Zettabyte neighborhood (2.3 trillion Gigabytes). To handle the load, provide for the unserved and get to 5G speeds (expected to be the new norm), a major change is needed.
Low Earth Orbit micro-satellite constellations are what’s next. Not to be confused with Geosynchronous, a.k.a. Geostationary, which are fraught with latency issues. Instead, a LEO mesh network constellation can potentially achieve latency at 20-30 milliseconds vs. the 700 milliseconds typical with Geosynchronous systems. Smaller, cheaper satellites that can be launched in bunches (up to 30 per launch) are all the rage.
Speed targets are above 1 Gigabits p.s. (download and upload) and, to takeover for malfunctioning units, spare satellites will be deployed. Network downtime can be reduced to less than 2 minutes per year through this method.
The idea of an ultra-fast internet beamed to the entire earth population within a decade is a mind-blowing concept.
The power in controlling such a network would also be so vast, it’s no wonder those already at the pinnacle are ready to fight each other for the privilege of setting it up. And, of course, to reap the rewards.
“…a discussion about the potentially scary thought of any of these titans owning even more of the world’s tech infrastructure will be on deck in the near future, so stay tuned”
With virtually all the planet’s heavy hitters on board, the race to supply internet worldwide via LEO micro-satellite constellations will likely be decided at the political and governmental level. As much as we’d all enjoy watching a capitalist death-match, being at the mercy of a monopoly larger than any in history? Less enjoyable.
With so much to unpack in the breakdown of who’s-who, a discussion about the potentially scary thought that any of these titans could own even more of the world’s tech infrastructure will be on deck in the near future, so stay tuned.
Microsoft’s Bill Gates and communications mogul Craig McCaw project Teledesic was an early attempt at satellite internet networks, but failed, in the late 90’s / early 00’s.
Now, however, stars appear to be aligned for at least one the the current crop of projects to succeed.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX intends to operate thousands of satellites with low orbiting efficiency. In 2018 the FCC approved a launch of 4,425 satellites (in March) and an additional 7518 (in November), bringing the total approved to 11,943. This group of satellites will comprise the initial Starlink internet constellation. A license application for 1 million earth-stations, to be used by customers, has already been submitted.
The first two Starlink satellites, Tintin A and Tintin B, were launched on February 22, 2018
In order to maintain the FCC’s conditional approval, SpaceX will have to launch at least 6,000 satellites by 2024.
Once that hurdle is crossed they could have 12,000 into space by 2025-2026.
And don’t forget Elon Musk already shot a Tesla Roadster in space via his Falcon Heavy rocket. It has twice the lift-capacity of a NASA Space-Shuttle and could be an ideal transport system for large satellite batches. The Falcon 9 would also be a good choice.
Perhaps SpaceX will get a boost since they avoided the list for possible break-up by the US government that was put forth by Senator Elizabeth Warren, AOC and others.
A betting man would think the satellite systems space race will be won by Elon Musk and SpaceX.
However, the game did appear to change recently when SpaceX’s former execs Rajeev Badyal and Mark Krebs joined Amazon’s “Project Kuiper’. (after allegedly being fired from SpaceX). Recently, in a tweet, Musk called Jeff Bezos a “copy cat” for jumping into the Satellite Internet fray. (note the emoji for the ‘cat’).
“CopyCat” Jeff Bezos has a substantial plan of his own. Project Kuiper is named after astronomer Gerard Kuiper. Kuiper was space theorist and visionary.
Some of his spot-on theories were:
Predicting that carbon dioxide would be found to be a major component to the atmosphere of Mars
That the rings of Saturn are composed of particles of ice
That the Moon’s surface would be “like crunchy snow” (well before Armstrong took his steps).
Bezos’ privately owned Blue Origin project should be a benefit in the new endeavor. Interestingly, Blue Origin is already in a separate, unrelated deal with TeleSat (see more below).
Project Kuiper is Amazon’s first attempt at housing their satellites in space to provide global broadband access. 784 satellites at 367 miles above us are planned along with 1,296 satellites at 379 miles upward and 1,156 satellites at an altitude of 391 miles
These satellites will offer the internet from Scotland through the south most tip of South America. Theoretically, this can cover 95 percent of the Earth’s population. The Earth’s population currently is around 7.7 billion people, half of which still need internet access.
Despite some recent public backlash, Amazon is still incredibly popular in the U.S. However, with so much competition from all sides, even the biggest beast may have an uphill climb.
OneWeb gets huge boost from “friends in high places”
Photo / OneWeb
OneWeb upped the ante on the non-geo stationary orbit concept (LEO), literally, with investments to date totaling $3.4 Billion , as of March.
In addition to AirBus, OneWeb is now also backed by Richard Branson, Coca-Cola and venture capital firm Softbank. Up to 5$ billion may be needed to get their 5G ready network up and running.
After inking the deal with AirBus, the first six satellites were built in France. Now, they are gearing up to continue in Florida. Oddly, the Florida facility is across the street (!) from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Factory.
The first six of the initial 648 were successfully launched on February 27. More Satellites are expected to be launched during the year.
Additional launches for 648 micro-satellites to operate at 750 miles in altitude are planned. The company hopes the constellation will be fully operational by 2021.
Eventually the total number of satellites could rise to 1,972 for which it has acquired priority spectrum license rights. Plans for an additional 2000 have been filed with US regulators.
Google Keeps Searching
Photo / Loon
Alphabet Inc (Google’s parent company) has Loon. Using balloons to take antennas into the stratosphere, a much larger coverage area can be reached vs. a terrestrial tower. (such as a cell tower)
In January a partnership was announced with TeleSat (also partnered recently with Blue Origins, as outlined above) to take the software systems developed for its balloons and apply them to an LEO micro-satellite constellation.
https://youtu.be/MiEZfRh-h-s
Telesat currently envisions between 292 and 512 satellites in orbit and initial commercial services are planned to commence by 2022.
In July 2018 Google announced that Loon along with Wing, both initially founded as “X moonshot projects“, would henceforth be full independent companies within the Alphabet Corporate Umbrella. In addition to the TeleSat project, Loon plans to partner with mobile carriers across the globe. An example of this is the current deal with Telekom Kenya, which Loon is helping to extend its coverage to remote areas of the country.
Facebook Pulls Out…All The Stops
Animation from Teledesic showing a complete satellite constellation with full coverage of the earth
Although perhaps founded with the best intentions, Facebook’s “FreeBasics” project somehow always appeared to involve tailoring its approach in order to serve its own interests.
After allowing only Facebook-sanctioned services and data to FreeBasics users it came with little surprise that a public backlash emerged.
In February of 2016, Free Basics was banned in India for unlawfully prioritizing certain sites over others. However, Free Basics is still up and running in over sixty countries. Facebook also still has a vast influence in Africa.
Facebook estimates that its efforts to increase internet connectivity worldwide, over 100 million new users are now online.
LeoSat: All Biz at the High End
Photo / Thales Alenia Space
Focusing on speed, full earth coverage, direct sat-to-sat optical links without the need for terrestrial stations, LeoSat is positioned to be a serious and unique entrant into the satellite wars.
Designed for large business and government customers, LeoSat already has over 1$ billion in pre-booked orders from enterprise level clients. In March, a new contract with Saudi Arabian communications firm SkyBand was announced.
Based in Washington D.C., LeoSat has set 2022 as its target date for between 78-108 satellites to reach orbit. As with some other competitors above, an initial launch of 2 satellites is planned for 2019.
Using its unique high throughput satellite system (HTS) an optical laser-based backbone will be implemented in space. The backbone will be comprised of 118 LEO satellites in an MPLS network, each with a direct laser based optical link to the others.
This will achieve a projected speed of 1.5 times current land-based fiber-optic networks at 1.6 to 5.2 Gigabits p.s., all without terrestrial touch-points in a globally interlinked constellation.
Without a hyper-famous heavy hitter, LeoSat is still not to be overlooked. More than just an a company with an Apt brand name, LeoSat has a solid list of accomplishments and a serious plan to compete in its chosen niche.
