OneWeb to launch satellites again after agreement with SpaceX – IT Pro – News

Why is the number of satellites a problem? Most of these things are a lot smaller than the average car and so if you know without a doubt the further you move from the planet the bigger the area you can spread the satellites over. So if you consider that we have now only launched a few hundred satellites into space, then you also understand that there is more than enough room to send a few million more satellites into space without it getting crowded in the space. room.

Yes, but telescopes have trouble with that, quite true, they also have trouble with light pollution and of course clouds (assuming visible light telescopes) and how about airplanes. All those things can be found solutions and will certainly lead to extra costs and occasional problems of course. There is a very simple solution, especially now that the costs continue to fall, that telescope shoots into space… and suddenly you are no longer bothered by the atmosphere, which makes a big difference.

Then of course there is the “problem” that it is more difficult to reach space if there are many satellites in the way. Now everything is not that bad, it is now done very carefully and a lot of space is left between the satellites and the rockets that fly by. But in the meantime, the technology has gotten a lot better and the tracking of satellites is a lot better than it used to be, so the margins could be narrowing, virtually eliminating this problem that’s primarily a problem on paper.

The last story is whether there is money to be made with this satellite internet… I would say yes certainly there is good money to be made with it. Putting a little satellite into space costs millions, a little satellite costs at least a few tons for the older satellites now in use by established satellite operators. And yet despite the enormous costs (one satellite is not enough, you quickly need dozens) there are a number of companies that make money with it and have been doing so for years.
Can SpaceX monetize their network with a whole lot more satellites? Don’t forget that SpaceX can reach space very cheaply compared to what has been possible until now, and also builds much cheaper satellites than has been necessary until now because it stays much closer to Earth and uses many more satellites. It is also because, unlike the existing operators, SpaceX wants to use the satellites for a much shorter period of time and therefore want to replace them much more often, so that the improvements in technology and cost savings reach space much faster.
All in all, there are a lot of very smart people inside and outside SpaceX who firmly believe in the business model that SpaceX has devised for Starlink. To date, it seems that it will indeed be possible to earn good money with Starlink and every now and then more possibilities (roaming with standard dishes in Ukraine for example) are possible for which people are guaranteed to ask extra money for when it is officially available. becomes for consumers. There is also a market for commercial use where people certainly want to sell and so on. Personally, I think Starlink is really going to make money. One of the things that people will be doing in the near future is to launch hundreds of satellites into space with the new larger rocket (Starship), which will reduce the costs per satellite and thus reduce the chance of failure a lot. become.

Anyway, I can’t imagine that for fear of an overcrowded space we decide that a large part of humanity should not have the internet. Or that because it is more difficult to look at space from Earth, we decide not to use the possibility to monitor remote areas or to keep an eye on the weather around the planet.

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