14 thoughts on “The Outer-Space Internet”

1. Think that second link’s the wrong one

2. Hmm. Am I the only space-fan around here to remember the 1988 Motorola “Iridium” project ?

   http://www.airspacemag.com/space/the-rise-and-fall-and-rise-of-iridium-5615034/?all&no-ist

   1. That was for phones, not Internet. And in fact it is in operation today.

      1. Iridium:

         https://www.iridium.com/ProductList.aspx?productCategoryID=1

         https://www.google.com/search?q=iridium+stock&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

   2. AFAIK Iridium worked for low bitrate data transmission as well. There was also Teledesic for data transmission but they never actually launched more than one satellite. Speaking of defunct companies there was TerreStar as well but that one was in GEO.

      ORBCOMM. SpaceX launched a couple of their satellites a while ago.

      This segment is full of bankrupt companies.

      1. Many “bankrupt” companies remain in business, and thrive. Do you not understand the concept of bankruptcy?

      2. I do understand the concept. But the fact is the initial investors often lose a bundle of money in the process.

         If Elon can cut the launch costs down more then that large constellation might work. Otherwise its just too big. As for relying on Virgin Galactic to do the launches… well I wish him good luck.

3. That second link still freezes up for me

   1. Works for me.

4. A friend of mine is an amateur astronomer. Look up “Iridium Flare” and stand outside at night at the appropriate time looking in the right direction.

   1. Try http://www.heavens-above.com/ , just enter your locations and it can tell you when iridium flares should occur.

5. My wife and I just returned from a 12-night Royal Caribbean cruise which offered free broadband internet service. I was at first surprised by the captain’s announcement that the WiFi would be free. Skepticism followed that the WiFi would be ponderously slow. By the end of the first night, I was reading this site without perceptible lag. By the third night, I dared to try Netflix (expecting the service to be blocked) – Star Wars: Clone Wars series streamed perfectly to my tablet on the cabin’s balcony. By day-five, I was thoroughly convinced as my wife and I were annoyed that someone was Skype’ing on their tablet in the Two70` lounge (Quantum of the Seas) for everyone to hear.

   All through the cruise, I wondered how it was worked… Thank you Rand for the illumination.

   1. If you were on either Oasis of the Seas or Allure of the Seas, you were using O3b:
      http://www.o3bnetworks.com/enterprise/maritime

   2. Whoops – Just noticed you were on Quantum of the Seas. That one is outfitted with O3b too:
      http://www.royalcaribbean.com/quantumoftheseas/technology/smart-connect/

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