llien
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The Federal Communications Commission has approved Amazon's plans for its ambitious Kuiper constellation, which entails sending 3,236 satellites into orbit to beam internet coverage down to Earth. Amazon claims that Kuiper will "provide broadband services to unserved and underserved consumers, businesses in the United States, and global customers by employing advanced satellite and earth station technologies." The Verge reports: The company plans to send the satellites to three different altitudes, and it claims it needs just 578 satellites in orbit to begin service, according to an FCC document announcing the approval. Amazon has not announced which launch provider it plans to use to fly the satellites into orbit yet. While Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also owns the rocket company Blue Origin, the launch provider will have to compete to launch the satellites along with other companies.
There are few caveats to Amazon's FCC approval. The company must launch half of the constellation by 2026 to retain its FCC license, and then the remaining satellites by 2029. Amazon also must submit to the FCC a finalized plan for how it will mitigate orbital debris, since the design of its satellites aren't finalized yet. Amazon claims it will take its satellites out of orbit within 355 days, but the FCC argues the company didn't "present specific information concerning some required elements" for its debris plan. A big concern of a constellation of this size is that the influx of satellites will lead to more collisions in space, creating pieces of debris that could threaten other satellites. Amazon claims that Kuiper will "provide broadband services to unserved and underserved consumers, businesses in the United States, and global customers by employing advanced satellite and earth station technologies," according to the FCC's approval document.
slashdot
Our Amazon Overlordiness has #metoo-ed Elon Musk in his noble goal to become even overlordier.
Musk's plans: is already in progress, a fleet of 540 is already in space, total of 42'000 (yes, fourty two thousand) satellites were approved by FCC. His project was estimated to cost about 10 billion $ over period of 10 years.
I wish I knew how one could make money with it, I guess people need to drop existing ISPs and subscribe to it?
Theoretical min round trip latency for geostationary satellite is 477ms, Starlink satellites, however are between 30 to 105 times closer to Earth and could achieve latency of 25-35ms, comparable to existing ISPs.
There are few caveats to Amazon's FCC approval. The company must launch half of the constellation by 2026 to retain its FCC license, and then the remaining satellites by 2029. Amazon also must submit to the FCC a finalized plan for how it will mitigate orbital debris, since the design of its satellites aren't finalized yet. Amazon claims it will take its satellites out of orbit within 355 days, but the FCC argues the company didn't "present specific information concerning some required elements" for its debris plan. A big concern of a constellation of this size is that the influx of satellites will lead to more collisions in space, creating pieces of debris that could threaten other satellites. Amazon claims that Kuiper will "provide broadband services to unserved and underserved consumers, businesses in the United States, and global customers by employing advanced satellite and earth station technologies," according to the FCC's approval document.
slashdot
Our Amazon Overlordiness has #metoo-ed Elon Musk in his noble goal to become even overlordier.
Musk's plans: is already in progress, a fleet of 540 is already in space, total of 42'000 (yes, fourty two thousand) satellites were approved by FCC. His project was estimated to cost about 10 billion $ over period of 10 years.
I wish I knew how one could make money with it, I guess people need to drop existing ISPs and subscribe to it?
Theoretical min round trip latency for geostationary satellite is 477ms, Starlink satellites, however are between 30 to 105 times closer to Earth and could achieve latency of 25-35ms, comparable to existing ISPs.
