Space WWWarriors
Lesezeit: ca. 15 MinutenSpace WWWarriors
A clear, starry sky makes many people think of the endless vastness of the universe. But an equally enormous mystery is playing out just a few hundred miles overhead. Multi-billion-dollar US corporations, European drivers of technology and Chinese state-owned companies are building hotspots in space for astronomical sums. Swarms of satellites numbering in the thousands are to enable Internet access from any point on the globe. What does the flying network access network look like? Who are the players of the future? And what risks and opportunities are hiding behind the extraterrestrial WLAN connection? A look into a new orbit.
In early October 2020, the Hoh tribe from the remote Olympic Peninsula in the far west of North America logs in to YouTube. It’s a bit of a sensation, because these indigenous Americans on the Pacific coast don’t have a high-speed Internet hookup. But that changed one day when they bolted a little satellite dish from SpaceX onto one of their roofs. In no time flat, the people had online access to healthcare and school instruction. They tweeted: “We feel like we’d been paddling upstream with a spoon.” Billionaire Elon Musk congratulated them right away: “You’re most welcome!”
This episode from Washington state shows what building the Internet in space is all about: The network of satellites close to the earth will deliver fast Internet and broadband to anywhere on earth — whether Africa, Asia, the North Pole, or dead zones in industrialized countries.
As a third rail, next to cable and mobile, hotspots in space are expected to close gaps that previously denied access to half the world. It’s for good reason that one of the first satellite Internet providers called itself “Other three billion” in allusion to the portion of humanity that’s offline. “O3B” was merged into the Luxembourg satellite corporation SES, which now supplies more than 70 satellites in medium orbits to television stations, mobile communications providers, the military, cruise ships and villages in remote corners of the world.
Adventures in a new orbit
Adventures in a new orbitSatellite Internet isn’t wacky science fiction anymore. The race is on. Elon Musk is sprinting along. He’s shot 1,600 communications satellites into space and adds another one every week. Because his reusable Falcon 9 rockets don’t only take off, they land, too.
The refrigerator-sized networked data boxes weigh about 250 kilos (551 pounds) and fly in fixed group formations around the globe, already providing quite a few beta test customers with speeds of 150 megabits per second, although it fluctuates. And this is just the beginning. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given Starlink approval for just about 12,000 satellites — and it could someday be 42,000. Washington has backed the Starlink program with $885.5 million — for now.
Unlike previous satellites, the new generation flies in low earth orbit (LEO), about 310 miles up. For comparison: The International Space Station circles at about 250 miles. The new routers race around the globe at up to 18,640 miles an hour because otherwise they would crash. In about an hour and a half, they’ve orbited the earth. In flight, they receive data from stations on the ground and pass it on to users. Customers connect with a mobile, pizza-sized antenna right to the satellite. The receiver terminals are automatically tracked by the satellites. With latency times of 10 to 50 milliseconds, real-time phone and video chat are absolutely possible. Geostationary and other satellites, on the other hand, have considerably higher delay times or reach only certain latitudes due to their greater distance from the earth — several thousand miles.
In a few years, satellite signals should even transition seamlessly into optical fiber and mobile networks,says Marc Hofmann, expert for satellite communication in the space agency at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Then it won’t matter to users where their data connection comes from. “In the long term, even cellphones will connect to the low-flying hotspots,” says Hofmann.
Competitors in a new dimension
Competitors in a new dimensionBut the space in orbit is limited – and Starlink isn’t alone out there. For his project Kuiper, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has announced constellations of 3,236 satellites and threatens to be a tough space competitor to Elon Musk. Contracts for the first nine rocket flights with the United Launch Alliance have been signed. As Starlink got the green light from the FCC in spring 2021 to fly 2,800 more satellites at an altitude of 550 kilometers instead of the planned 1,200 kilometers, Bezos and Musk engaged in a public exchange of blows. Because: Too many satellites increase the risk of collisions and broadcast disruptions.
Tobias Hoffmeister, president and CEO of MHP Americas, is working with a major corporation on building up satellite production. “For the American company, the project has similar importance to landing on the moon,”says 41-year-old Hoffmeister. “The goal to be the world leader applies to space as it does to earth.”
Because providers outside the US are also on the starting ramp. OneWeb in London, a British-Indian-French consortium, now has more than 200 LEO satellites in orbit and plans a LEO fleet of 648 satellites. By the end of the year, it should be starting its own service. Even Coca-Cola is said to have invested in OneWeb to equip its sales kiosks and beverage machines as hotspots — whether in African oases or on islands in the South Pacific. Canada’s Telesat, meanwhile, is focusing not on end customers, but on business services providers. The experienced company in Ottawa designs its 298-satellite Lightspeed LEO constellation for the tough demands of telecommunications corporations, governments, and the maritime and aviation industries.
And Beijing’s not sleeping either. “The large state-owned Chinese aerospace companies are pursuing very ambitious goals,” observes Daniel Voelsen, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, who advises the German government and parliament. “They have announced they are building LEO constellations with hundreds or even thousands of satellites.The Chinese leadership,” says Voelsen, “is completely aware of the importance of communication infrastructures in space.”In addition, Geely, China’s largest automaker and owner of Volvo, has announced its own network.
Decisions on launching satellite systems affects world society: With the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in Geneva, the UN operates an institution, binding under international law, that regulates the global radio spectrum, licenses for use of frequencies and assignment of satellite positions. Behind them, national institutions, such as the FCC in the United States or Germany’s Federal Network Agency, issue broadcasting rights in the specific countries.
Where’s Europe been?
Where’s Europe been?Other than OneWeb, not a single operator in the EU has stepped up with its own satellite Internet. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton is therefore driving forward an initiative for a European broadband network in space. He wants to achieve Europe’s digital sovereignty and prevent dependence on the US and China. Even the new European Space Agency chief Josef Aschbacher urges a “push forward”. “From a political and economic point of view, Europe has a strong interest in an independent constellation,” says policy advisor Voelsen. Otherwise, the US or China could control this part of the global Internet structure and thereby control more and more whether and under what conditions information can be exchanged worldwide.
However, the German Aerospace Center is betting on market-driven development. “Europe is very well set up in satellite technology,” Hofmann says. “In Germany, we’re even world leaders in areas like laser communication and solar energy supply.” Airbus, for example, supplies satellites to OneWeb, and France’s Thales corporation to Telesat in Canada. At the same time, companies in many countries — often with government support — continue to develop satellite technology, communications software, and even mini-rockets. Meanwhile, the Fraunhofer Institute has forged 17 institutes into a “space alliance”. Their goal: To guide space travel technology to a new dimension.
In Germany, a new space boom has even broken out: The federal government is supporting three young rocket startups in developing small unmanned carrier rockets for small satellites, known as micro-launchers.The first launches are planned for 2022/2023 in Norway. At the same time, the German industry association BDI is fighting for a floating spaceport in the North Sea. The German Offshore Spaceport Alliance around Bremen’s OHB Group plans to launch the first rockets from a floating platform in 2023.
Help from the very top
Help from the very topAll starters in the race for high-speed Internet from orbit promise help from the very top for unconnected regions of the world. Whether the goal is realistic or not is written in the heavens, however. “In light of the billions in investment, the providers are trying to reach as many users as possible,” says DLR expert Hofmann. “The mega-constellations definitely have the potential to set the satellite communications market on its head. However, in practice, the companies first have to show that they can build a sustainable operation and a robust business case.” With a starter kit price of $499 and a monthly rate of $99, as with Starlink, it can’t be assumed that people in poorer regions of the world can pay these Internet rates, says policy consultant Voelsen. He thinks instead that local providers with ground stations will supply larger communities.
This makes new social networks conceivable: That’s why UNICEF has founded the “Giga” initiative to supply every school in the world with Internet access.
Moreover, experts are expecting new commercial applications. Jörg Saße, Associated Partner at MHP, especially sees new opportunities for the Internet of Things. “IoT is a wonderful market for satellite Internet, because it allows narrow-band, worldwide peer-to-peer connection,” Saße says. “Sensors don’t need broadband, but just a few kilobits per second.” Legions of robots and machines that will be connected to the IoT in the future can get their own Internet connection from space.
Even now, a lot of companies are betting on satellite technology, for example as independent backup solutions in security-relevant areas like finance. This gives rise to a number of companies that plan to offer special constellations for IoT services with small CubeSats about the size of a shoe box. In Munich, for example, the German-Chinese startup KLEO Connect is planning a formation of 300 LEO satellites with laser communication.In the future, says Saße, it is even conceivable that satellites will carry small computer centers in them — as flying databases.
In addition to Internet aboard cruise ships, planes and oil platforms, global transport logistics in particular can benefit.“If you can take your antennas all over the world and aren’t dependent on a locally available network, new advantages arise, for example for seamless container tracking,” says DLR expert Hofmann.
Rail providers could monitor their entire track network by satellite and strengthen their Internet connection on underdeveloped routes. Even monitoring remote infrastructures or construction sites is possible, as well as use of autonomous field robots in agriculture or self-driving cars. And, last but not least, the military has a growing interest in connectivity that spans the world.
Risks and side effects
Risks and side effectshe new network alternative provides better resilience and safety. But the swarm of satellites is not without its drawbacks. Astronomers are already complaining that the long white streams of light reflected from the sun are massively impairing their view into space. In an urgent appeal, the American Astronomical Society warns that the mega-formations are fundamentally changing astronomical observations and the appearance of the night sky for star gazers worldwide.
Competition among the satellite countries with ever more missiles in space could lead to a growing collection of space junk. This is because LEO satellites have a life of only five to seven years before the next generation replaces them. Admittedly, their operators are already obligated to retrieve their discarded satellites from orbit within 25 years. But to prevent the orbit paths from junking up and to reduce the risk of collision, this time range should be shortened in the future.“We’ll have to work for sustainable management,” says Hofmann, “so that space can be used by everybody.”
What drives us?
There are still billions of vehicles with internal combustion engines on the road today. However, the end of fossil fuel-driven mobility is in sight.
Mobility-Lift-Off
In the near future, personal air taxis will redefine our concept of mobility and take freedom to new heights.
Sven Heitkamp
ven Heitkamp is a freelance reporter and copywriter from Leipzig. He discovers what innovations startups are working on and explores how large corporations work. He researches societal trends and family histories, and writes for the Sächsische Zeitung, brand eins, Focus Spezial, Öko-Test, Porsche Consulting magazine, and other corporate publications.
Scroll down to continue
Swipe to continue
Swipe to continue
Space WWWarriors
The network of satellites close to the earth will deliver fast Internet and broadband to anywhere on earth — whether Africa, Asia, the North Pole, or dead zones in industrialized countries.
Adventures in a new orbit
In a few years, satellite signals should even transition seamlessly into optical fiber and mobile networks,
Competitors in a new dimension
“For the American company, the project has similar importance to landing on the moon,”
The Chinese leadership,” says Voelsen, “is completely aware of the importance of communication infrastructures in space.”
Where’s Europe been?
In Germany, a new space boom has even broken out: The federal government is supporting three young rocket startups in developing small unmanned carrier rockets for small satellites, known as micro-launchers.
Help from the very top
This makes new social networks conceivable: That’s why UNICEF has founded the “Giga” initiative to supply every school in the world with Internet access.
In the future, says Saße, it is even conceivable that satellites will carry small computer centers in them — as flying databases.
In addition to Internet aboard cruise ships, planes and oil platforms, global transport logistics in particular can benefit.
Risks and side effects
“We’ll have to work for sustainable management,” says Hofmann, “so that space can be used by everybody.”
