WEBVTT - SpaceX and Starlink

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<v Speaker 1>The private space industry company space X, filed to register

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<v Speaker 1>a trademark on the name Starling. What will Starling b

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<v Speaker 1>and how is it a big deal? This is tech

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Daily. As I'm Jonathan Strickland. SpaceX has been working

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<v Speaker 1>on a design for a network of satellites that could

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<v Speaker 1>collectively provide a network circling our planet. This satellite network,

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<v Speaker 1>also known as a constellation of satellites, would have many jobs.

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<v Speaker 1>One of those jobs is aerial surveying. That's a fancy

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<v Speaker 1>way of saying. The satellites will contain sensors that will

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<v Speaker 1>allow them to gather data about the geography of the

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<v Speaker 1>Earth and spatially relevant information. Such a network could be

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<v Speaker 1>useful to measure ongoing changes, such as how coastlines might

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<v Speaker 1>transform over time, him as a result of climate change

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<v Speaker 1>or in the wake of massive storm systems. A comprehensive

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<v Speaker 1>constellation network would allow for a truly big picture look

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<v Speaker 1>at the status of the Earth, and could prove invaluable

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<v Speaker 1>when developing scientific projects or government policies. These remote sensors

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<v Speaker 1>are likely various types of cameras that can capture images

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<v Speaker 1>through different wavelengths of light, including infra red or the

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<v Speaker 1>visible spectrum. This alone is pretty cool tech, but the

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<v Speaker 1>other purpose of starlink is even more interesting. That purpose

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<v Speaker 1>is to provide global broadband access to the Internet. In

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<v Speaker 1>other words, no matter where on Earth you might find yourself,

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<v Speaker 1>with the proper tech, you could access the Internet. This

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<v Speaker 1>could be transformative technology for countless regions that have limited

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<v Speaker 1>or no Internet access due to a lack of infrastructure.

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<v Speaker 1>It's undeniable that the Internet has changed the way the

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<v Speaker 1>world works in a dramatic fashion. From communication to commerce.

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<v Speaker 1>The Internet shapes the way we interact with the world.

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<v Speaker 1>Extending that capability to every part of the Earth could

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<v Speaker 1>provide enormous benefit, not only to the people living in

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<v Speaker 1>remote regions, but to everyone. And satellite Internet isn't exactly new.

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<v Speaker 1>We've been launching communication satellites into orbit for decades, but

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<v Speaker 1>your typical Internet communication satellite flies high above the planet

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<v Speaker 1>in geo stationary orbit. That means the satellites orbit the

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<v Speaker 1>Earth along the equator, moving at a speed that keeps

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<v Speaker 1>them in the same relative position in the sky over

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<v Speaker 1>a reference point on the planet. As the Earth rotates,

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<v Speaker 1>the satellite whizzes through space to maintain that relative position.

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<v Speaker 1>This provides stable coverage of a particular area of the planet,

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<v Speaker 1>but it requires going out to a very high orbit,

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<v Speaker 1>and there's limited real estate to deal with, as an

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<v Speaker 1>overpopulated orbit would open up the possibility of collisions. Rather

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<v Speaker 1>than rely upon those few large and ex pensive satellites,

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<v Speaker 1>space x is strategy is to create a whole boatload

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<v Speaker 1>of small, relatively cheap satellites. The SpaceX network could consist

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<v Speaker 1>of up to four thousand of these satellites orbiting closer

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<v Speaker 1>to the Earth in low orbit. That means the satellites

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<v Speaker 1>wouldn't maintain a relative position above a specific reference point

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<v Speaker 1>on the Earth, but that's not necessary if you have

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<v Speaker 1>enough devices to cover the globe. The low Earth orbit

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<v Speaker 1>positioning also translates to savings. It's not as expensive to

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<v Speaker 1>launch satellites into low Earth orbit. It will still cost

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<v Speaker 1>a pretty penny. Elon Musk once estimated the cost of

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<v Speaker 1>the network's development and deployment would hit somewhere in the

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<v Speaker 1>ten billion dollar range and take five years to complete,

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<v Speaker 1>but in the grand scheme of things, it's not as

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<v Speaker 1>costly as launching a few massive satellites much further out.

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<v Speaker 1>Yet another benefit of using low Earth orbit is the

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<v Speaker 1>decrease in latency. Latency is the delay between when you

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<v Speaker 1>initiate a command and when a system completes that command.

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<v Speaker 1>In other words, it's the time it takes your computer

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<v Speaker 1>and the Internet in general to send messages back and

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<v Speaker 1>forth to each other. With satellite Internet latency tends to

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<v Speaker 1>be an irritating problem, particularly with traditional communication satellites. That's

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<v Speaker 1>because the enormous distances involved. Data can only travel as

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<v Speaker 1>fast as the speed of light. With traditional communication satellites,

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<v Speaker 1>the distance between users and the satellites is great enough

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<v Speaker 1>that this becomes a noticeable lag in communication. Satellites in

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<v Speaker 1>low Earth orbit are by definition, closer to the ground

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<v Speaker 1>with less distance to travel, you see a decrease in latency.

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<v Speaker 1>Whether that decrease would be low enough to truly work

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<v Speaker 1>for real time applications without a noticeable delay, such as

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<v Speaker 1>video conferencing, remains to be seen. As a side note,

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<v Speaker 1>we often talk about Internet communication in terms of speed.

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<v Speaker 1>That's a little misleading. What's more accurate is it to

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<v Speaker 1>dicussion about data capacity. Data traveling through a ten megabit

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<v Speaker 1>per second connection versus traveling through a one gigabit per

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<v Speaker 1>second connection actually moves at the same speed. If all

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<v Speaker 1>other things are equal, it's just that the gigabit per

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<v Speaker 1>second connection allows more data to pass through in that

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<v Speaker 1>same amount of time. Another way to think about it

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<v Speaker 1>is if you and four of your closest friends are

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<v Speaker 1>walking down a pathway that's only one person wide, and

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<v Speaker 1>you're all moving at about four miles per hour toward

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<v Speaker 1>a big open space. It's going to take a while

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<v Speaker 1>for that last person in line to join everyone else,

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<v Speaker 1>simply because the path's capacity only allows for single file.

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<v Speaker 1>But if that same group we're walking down a pathway

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<v Speaker 1>that allows you to walk ten people abreast, it would

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<v Speaker 1>take less time for the entire group to enter the

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<v Speaker 1>wide open area because the path's capacity for people is greater.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not that the second group moved faster, just that

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<v Speaker 1>the path could hold more people across. That's sort of

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<v Speaker 1>the same thing with internets eats. But back to SpaceX,

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<v Speaker 1>the large number of satellites also means space x's systems

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<v Speaker 1>would have redundancy built into it. That means should one

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<v Speaker 1>satellite fail, it wouldn't result in a catastrophic loss of service.

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<v Speaker 1>If a geostationary satellite goes down, that's a big deal.

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<v Speaker 1>It's very far out, much further than the International Space Station,

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<v Speaker 1>and fixing such a problem is often not feasible, or

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<v Speaker 1>it is extremely risky and expensive. Relying on smaller, less

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<v Speaker 1>expensive satellites allows SpaceX to make sure coverage on the

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<v Speaker 1>Earth isn't interrupted if a single satellite goes down, neighboring

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<v Speaker 1>satellites can pick up the slack until SpaceX can launch

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<v Speaker 1>a replacement or repair a misbehaving satellite. SpaceX isn't the

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<v Speaker 1>only company looking to provide Internet coverage through satellites. It

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<v Speaker 1>will likely be a few years before we see any

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<v Speaker 1>of these systems become fully operational in the Star Wars

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<v Speaker 1>sense of the phrase. Assuming everything goes smoothly in a

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<v Speaker 1>few years, it may be possible to log into your

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<v Speaker 1>social media accounts even if you find yourself on a

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<v Speaker 1>deserted location. I suspect the twenty twenty reboot of Gilligan's

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<v Speaker 1>Island will have to address this in some way. To

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<v Speaker 1>learn more about how the Internet works, be sure to

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<v Speaker 1>subscribe to the podcast tech Stuff, a deep dive show

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<v Speaker 1>that publishes on Wednesdays and Fridays. That's all from me

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<v Speaker 1>for now, See you next time.