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SpaceX announced their plans years ago, all the way back to 2015.[1] Satellite companies have six years to plan and respond. ViaSat have no excuses if they're
by kiba 5y ago
SpaceX announced their plans years ago, all the way back to 2015.[1]
Satellite companies have six years to plan and respond.
ViaSat have no excuses if they're worried about their competitor. It's amazing about the depth of complacency that the space industry in general sunk to.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink
- milankragujevic 5y agoThis is classic ISP behavior. Doesn't matter if the medium is a radio link from satellites in space or a coaxial cable or optical fiber cable on the ground - ISPs gonna do what ISPs gonna do - try in any way to block competition.
- foobarian 5y agoWithout SpaceX, you're in a world where each LEO launch costs $500M and the tech is not good enough for handovers so you make that even worse by going to GEO. Even without being an ISP it is a monumental challenge to overcome.
- api 5y agoULA sat around and produced studies for years arguing that reusable rockets were either impossible or wouldn't actually save any money. The latter claim is absurd at first glance, but they argued and pushed it even past the time when Falcon cores were being reused. Space launch and ISPs are both industries that are accustomed to fat cost-plus contracts, subsidies with no accountability, and market protection from government. They've lived that way for decades, resulting in companies that I'm sure are optimized top to bottom for suckling at the government teat.
- kumarvvr 5y agoI think the issue is Viasat think they are being shortchanged by the FCC to help Elon.