You may not be aware of this but there is a race going on up there... I'm talking about the race to provide internet connectivity to the four billion humans currently living without internet access.
It only took a $13.5 million investment made by Andreessen Horowitz to get the Astranis from concept to prototype. This new and revolutionary type of satellite technology aims to transmit data down to specific terrestrial locations with each satellite it launches.
That’s a significant shift from the way that like SpaceX and OneWeb are building their satellite networks. Both of those companies are launching satellites into low earth orbit — which means that their satellites orbit the earth every ninety minutes.
People may not understand the difference between low Earth orbit satellites and the Astranis satellite but basically the reason why this is such big news is because to provide the uninterrupted connectivity it takes a network of hundreds — if not thousands — of satellites in place to have a fully operational network.
The Astranis project is different. The company behind it plans to launch its satellites into geostationary orbit. In everyday person talk that means farther from the earth and in a location that remains fixed (the satellites just sort of sit in one place in spacee). This results in connectivity being provided by the Astranis almost immediately after launch.
Although it is unclear regarding the specifics of the satellite’s cost, according to sources, Astranis’ satellites cost upwards of tens of millions of dollars. This is a big improvement when looking at traditional satellites that instead cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
For customers that means the magic number will be close to the industry’s targeted $75 per megabit per second per month for dedicated bandwidth.
The two founders behind the project, Gedmark and his co-founder Ryan McLinko have what it takes to compete with the aerospace giants pursuing satellite connectivity.
“If you can get below that number you can get a lot more people online. The real goal is to get down to tens of dollars per megabit per second per month,” Gedmark said.
If their company is able to take a small percentage of the market from SpaceX and OneWeb it will amount to massive revenues and a new paradigm in the industry. Basically, it would be a huge success considering the fact that the current satellite telecommunications market is valued at around $120 billion at the present moment.
When it comes to the 4 billion people that currently can’t access the internet due to financial and logistical issues, this could be a total game changer!
For us… it’s all about solving this problem,” says Gedmark. “The way to do that is to be in control of the satellites ourselves and get them up as fast as possible.”
This is the type of news I like to hear. If this technology can include less fortunate people and provide an opportunity for them to become more included into our new digital society I think it should be supported at all cost. What do you guys think about this new technological undertaking? Is this the solution to digital inclusion for the world's masses without internet? What obstacles do you see this project needing to overcome to reach their goals?
Please leave comments below!
Source:
Astranis emerges from stealth with a new satellite technology for connecting the world - TechCrunch
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