Satellite

The internet is an invisible mesh that enables instantaneous global communications, but delivering all those bits quickly to more people in more places requires increasingly exotic approaches. Here are a few things you may not realize about how communication pipes work around the world:

Apparently, SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk flew to the Seattle (WA) area in June for meetings with engineers leading a satellite launch project crucial to his space company’s growth. Within hours of landing, Musk had fired at least seven members of the program’s senior management team, the culmination of disagreements over the pace at which the team was developing and testing its Starlink satellites. Musk quickly brought in new managers from SpaceX headquarters in CA to replace a number of the managers he fired.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the following items are tentatively on the agenda for the Nov Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, Nov 15, 2018:
Galileo Order – The Commission will consider an Order that addresses waivers of certain satellite licensing requirements for receive-only earth stations operating with the Galileo Radionavigation-Satellite Service. (IB Docket No. 17-16)

In Nov, during what we’ve dubbed Space Month, the Federal Communications Commission will take up nine items to ensure that America leads in the New Space Age, with an emphasis on cutting through the red tape. We start with improving a satellite-enabled technology that millions of Americans rely on every day without even knowing it: the positioning, navigation, and timing service known to most Americans as the Global Positioning System, or GPS. The Commission will vote on allowing American devices to access the European global navigation satellite system, known as Galileo.

Cheaper rocket launches and better technology may make satellites a more viable option for delivering fast, affordable consumer broadband services around the world. A handful of companies from SpaceX to ViaSat are launching satellites that orbit closer to the earth, which is expected to reduce the lag time — or latency — because the signal will not have to travel as far. Lower-Earth constellations have the potential to compete more directly with cable or fiber networks on speed and price than the older satellite systems.

Aerospace startup Swarm Technologies, which has grand ambitions of providing low-cost internet connectivity with 100 tiny satellites and which infamously launched four satellites without a federal license in Jan, has received permission from the Federal Communications Commission to launch a new crop of satellites later in 2018. The approval comes while the FCC is still deciding whether to take any retaliatory action against Swarm for the unauthorized January launch.

I was at the White House for a summit on 5G. Notably, this summit was spearheaded by the National Economic Council. NEC’s ownership of this event tells us that the White House sees wireless innovation as an issue of economic competitiveness, first and foremost. And I think that’s exactly right. 

The Federal Communications Commission streamlined, consolidated, and harmonized the rules governing earth stations used to provide satellite-based services on ships, airplanes, and vehicles.

Comcast triumphed over the Walt Disney in a hard-fought battle for Sky television, by offering $39 billion for the satellite-TV service that has 23 million customers in five European countries. Sky’s independent board members must approve the winning bid  and shareholders must ratify the deal before the sale will be complete. Soon, Comcast will have a presence in some of the most prosperous countries in Europe — Britain, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy.