I think this is good news...

Hopefully, will dramatically reduce the cost of internet connectivity for many of us...


https://www.geekwire.com/2019/amazon-project-kuiper-broadband-satellite/

Gotta wonder about the garbage collection that will have to be done in a few decades time. 3,000 satellites here, 12,000 there - pretty soon it adds up.

DDW said:

Gotta wonder about the garbage collection that will have to be done in a few decades time. 3,000 satellites here, 12,000 there - pretty soon it adds up.

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Actually, for remote areas, this MAY cause a few more birds lifted into orbit, but DirecTV has already "announced" (or more specifically... implied) that most of its programming will move toward wi-fi once 5G infrastructure begins to become more widespread. Making its expensive satellites obsolete. Push that to a futurist conclusion... Satellite communication technology could be reduced over the years and not increased. At least to the end-user. I would think that companies like AT$T and a few others will need to hang onto it for fast super-long distance data transmission.

Won't any ground station antenna need to aim at the moving satellite? Then quickly aim at the next one coming in view? More troublesome on a moving boat.

If ow orbiting like irdium, dish antennas ay not be necessary.

... but DirecTV has already "announced" (or more specifically... implied) that most of its programming will move toward wi-fi once 5G infrastructure begins to become more widespread ...

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It will likely be a very long time for 5G to expand outside of major metropolitan areas. As I understand it, the higher frequency of 5G requires cell sites to be within about 250 meters of each other.

Tom.B said:

Push that to a futurist conclusion... Satellite communication technology could be reduced over the years and not increased.

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As a share of total traffic, sure. But the growth possibilities for broadbased networks of all sorts is staggering. Even if satellite becomes more niche it's likely to grow in absolute terms, I think.

Ski in NC said:

Won't any ground station antenna need to aim at the moving satellite? Then quickly aim at the next one coming in view? More troublesome on a moving boat.

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Most Navigation, Communication, and Weather satellites have geosynchronous orbits.

Many companies are looking at satellite as a way to deliver broadband to under served markets. The advantage to the low earth satellite fleet is that it can provide service to customers throughout the world. There are a number of firms looking to get into this space and it will be interesting as the technology emerges in the coming years. Not all of these firms will focus on direct to consumer needs as there are other applications such as smart cities, agriculture, self driving vehicles etc that will be targeted.

Since there will be numerous satellite your antenna will be designed to pick up the signal from the closes available bird and then will hand it off as that one goes out of range. Very cool stuff. It will likely be 3-5+ years before there is wide spread availability as there is quite a bit to do and regulations will likely be drafted in the coming years.

As to the question with space junk these satellites are designed to have a short life and will be de-orbited and burn up in the atmosphere.

Fixed satellite internet is also rapidly improving with the next generation of satellites launching in the next 18 months. These will be able to deliver significantly higher speeds and performance through large areas of the world.

DIRECTV and DISH will continue to provide satellite video for many years as the infrastructure is in place and there are 30,000,000 mm current customers. They will continue to be the go-to option for customers in areas without high speed internet and mobile applications. However in markets with high quality broadband they will focus on their streaming services.

Wander what the download/upload speeds are gonna be like..... Is the signal going be affected by the weather? I do hope one day there will be more options than horrible Comcast in Naples, FL

Speeds of the low earth satellites will not be as robust as fiber or other wired service. However because they are orbiting at a lower height than current fixed satellites the latency will be considerably less and weather interruptions will be less likely. Also because there is a constellation of satellites it will support internet in moving vehicles.
Also worth nothing the next generation of fixed high speed satellites will launch in 2021-22, these will be able to deliver 100Mps ++. There is a lot of money and technology resources being dedicated to satellite internet so it is only going to improve.

I would not get your hopes up for 5g in remote areas anytime soon. Cost and time of deployment will make this a challenge, plus there is some government red tape that needs to be addressed at the state and local level. Additionally because of the nature of the technology I am not sure marine applications will be ideal.

Geez! Only to 56 deg. N? Won't help me in my cruising ground.

Tator

The next generation of GEO-sat launching in 2021-22 will better support northern and southern areas. There are 3 satellites planned which are designed to cover the world. Each one will have more capacity than all existing satellites. The key will be a mobile antenna system to support the technology.

psneeld said:

If ow orbiting like irdium, dish antennas ay not be necessary.

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The antenna might be auto-tracking dish or simple helix depending on the bandwidth you want, especially if you need high upload b/w.

For most of us, it will probably look like this...

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/glob...d-marine-helix-antenna--15999428?recordNum=10

...except for the price tag.

This antenna and electronics can be manufactured for mass-markets at a cost of under $50, probably retail in the $200 range. Presumably, Amazon will bring this down further making them by the millions.

The low earth satellite will use a fixed antenna, the GEO-says will use a tracking dish.