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A bold plan to cover the world of broadband satellite Internet may not be as crazy as it sounds and could be a license to print money, according to an expert on the Internet.
Low-latency routing in space, in which a swarm of low Earth orbit satellites transmit the super-fast wireless Internet beam, seems to require more effort and expense than it is worth . But the idea has been widely explored by Silicon Valley in recent years – and one man in particular wants to make it happen. And now you know him well.
It is the controversial billionaire Elon Musk, whose private rocket company SpaceX wants to build a constellation of communications satellites as part of a project called Starlink.
The Federal Communications Committee (FCC) of the United States on Friday approved the dispatch of 7518 additional satellites in space, as part of an ambitious plan, adding to the 4400 already approved.
The main components of such a project have already been realized, but certainly not to the extent that SpaceX would need Starlink to succeed.
Professor Mark Handley, from the Computer Science Department of University College London, is an expert in network topology. He recently started to create a simulation of how Starlink works.
"The devil is in the details, and SpaceX seems to be pushing the boundaries of what has been done before on several fronts simultaneously," he told news.com.au. But he thinks the project is achievable.
Prof Handley has looked at the company's FCC submissions to get a rough idea of what SpaceX hopes to do. More interestingly, the company will probably use lasers rather than radio waves to transmit messages between satellites because it did not request radio spectrum for satellite-to-satellite communication.
"We have mainly deduced that the omission of radio frequencies for inter-satellite communications and the discussion of some optical communications components can survive the re-entry," said Professor Handley. "This has subsequently been confirmed in other FCC communications, but we still do not know exactly how they plan to use laser links to link satellites."
The video below shows what it might look like. Prof Handley said he used enlightened riddles and physics basics to "fill in the gaps" of what might be possible for SpaceX.
THE GREAT ARM OF ELON
SpaceX has the most advanced rocket technology in the world and its innovative reusable rockets will be critically important to the Starlink plan. The rocket system allows thrusters, which are typically discarded after a single use, to safely land on land and be re-used for other launches.
"Without that, it's hard to see how that could have been viable," said Professor Handley. "It's important to understand that they do not build this once, the satellites have a lifespan of five to seven years, so they plan to launch an average of two satellites a day, on an ongoing basis."
"They can probably ship about 25 to 30 satellites on a rocket, and a lot more if their next generation BFR rocket runs, so it's not as crazy as it may seem at first glance."
It is clear that SpaceX, which works closely with NASA, is supported by the US government.
"I'm looking forward to seeing what these services could promise and what the proposed constellations have to offer," FCC President Ajit Pai said Friday after SpaceX had obtained approval to launch more satellites , on condition of following his plan.
A license to print money
In addition to providing the Internet to the four corners of the world, such a network has a major advantage: it can potentially significantly reduce the latency of long-distance communications. In fact, free-space lasers communicate at the speed of light in a vacuum, which is faster than the speed of light through the glass, as in fiber optic cables on the ground.
And according to Professor Handley, it is there that lies the potential genius.
He thinks that something like Starlink could be extremely attractive for high-frequency traders at big banks who might be willing to shell out for a speed advantage in trading based on algorithms on the stock market and currency trading.
This may seem like a foreign concept, but being able to reduce your latency in milliseconds can be very expensive for these companies, who are looking for an advantage to react to the market faster than others.
Book of Michael Lewis 2014 Flash Boys Chronicle of the rise of high-frequency trading, it describes a US $ 300 million project by Spread Networks – the construction of a 1,331 km cable crossing the mountains and rivers between Chicago and New Jersey – in the only goal is to reduce the data transmission time from 17 to 13 milliseconds.
Theoretically, SpaceX could charge high premiums to access its Starlink high-speed network.
"I think it's the advantage of low latency that will make the most money, and its use by the financial sector will likely pay a large portion of the bills," said Professor Handley. .
"I think that the social benefits of connecting remote sites will be huge and that they will generate revenue, but if it's only about connecting remote sites, I do not think that Starlink could afford it alone. "
Professor Handley was in the United States this week to present his research paper and work on the Starlink Simulation at a conference in Seattle.
"It is perhaps surprising that few network researchers are aware of Starlink projects," he said.
"It will not only be the existing internet placed in space – the rapidly changing nature of satellite tracks raises all sorts of interesting networking issues and will undoubtedly occupy us for several years to come."
In the end, he thinks such a network is inevitable. It remains to be seen whether SpaceX will be able to succeed in the years to come.
Like everything Musk has done lately, observers will not fail.
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