SpaceX buys Swarm producing nanosatellites, why?

Simply because Swarm also deals with communications using satellite technology. At the same time, SpaceX has already informed regulators that it is buying the satellite Internet company Swarm and that it will help it expand its coverage, which is in the public interest. SpaceX mainly mentions parts of the world where Internet connection services are still malfunctioning or not available at all.

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According to the following picture, Swarm offers basically the same thing as SpaceX with its Starlink system. We have a number of small low-orbit satellites that form the backbone of the entire network, and customers connect via cloud Swarm Hive and ground stations. However, the method of use is different.

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Through Starlink, SpaceX is trying to create a service comparable to a traditional Internet Service Provider (ISP), and we recently learned that Starlink’s connection speed is already approaches an average of 100 Mbps. On the other hand, Swarm is a service called “store-and-forward” and as such is designed to send smaller amounts of data to remote IoT devices (or back), which are stored and sent only when a flying satellite appears in a suitable position. Swarm is really not suitable for video streaming or online gaming. –

However, the equipment also corresponds to this, as the satellites of the Swarm system themselves are comparable in size to a desktop hard drive and weigh only 360 grams. However, each IoT device needs a $ 119 transmitter and receiver to connect to the Swarm network, and a $ 499 satellite terminal is required, and the company charges $ 5 a month for one connected device.

SpaceX and Swarm agreed on the acquisition on July 16, but now it is up to the US FCC to approve the deal, but it is difficult to predict that it will defend it. It is also not clear what the specific company SpaceX attracted to Swarm, and why it wants to buy it. It can be a whole service, or just certain technologies.

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