A new Google project proposes to put 180 satellites in orbit to provide worldwide internet access.
The competition heats up: A new Google project proposes to put 180 satellites in orbit to provide worldwide internet access.
The details remain vague, but if this is true, and we have every reason to consider it likely, the demand for launch services just went up significantly, especially since the report says that these Google satellites will orbit “at lower altitudes than traditional satellites.” If that is the case they will have to be replaced more frequently.
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The competition heats up: A new Google project proposes to put 180 satellites in orbit to provide worldwide internet access.
The details remain vague, but if this is true, and we have every reason to consider it likely, the demand for launch services just went up significantly, especially since the report says that these Google satellites will orbit “at lower altitudes than traditional satellites.” If that is the case they will have to be replaced more frequently.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
The satellites will need to be replaced OR refueled more often. This is a business opportunity for an orbital servicing vehicle. Perhaps a Dragon V2 vehicles loaded with fuel tanks that will rendezvous with several satellites, refuel and go on to the next–I would suppose that there would be more than one satellite in the same orbital plane. Somebody should do a business plan.
The satellites are going to be very very low.
So low in fact that they will never have a stable or permanent orbit.
They will be disposable in fact.. Think of it as a high powered WiFi network.
Standard satellites could provide network access but since they are placed so high in permanent orbits the lag time would be ridiculous.
By bringing the network closer to the target you remove 90% of the lag time.
It will be free but it will not be 3G fast. And the ads to pay for it will make the new users cry.
Seriously. They plan on paying for this by selling ad space. More pop-ups. Directed to whom?
The first world users who are already paying their way onto the internet?
Or do they hope to sell things to people in central Africa and upper Mongolia? I’m not sure exactly how many cooking pots and yurts they can sell by internet? Imagine the shipping costs for those things alone. 1000 mile shipping into the outback of Australia.
OHHH. Now I know were they plan to use drones to ship stuff.
Sorry I was totally wrong.
I was thinking of something entirely different.
But the service life of one of their satellites is expected to be around 10 years.
I guess you don’t need much more considering the advancement in technology in that time. They will want to upgrade the system by then.
Expect balloons to compete.