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Is it odd they are going after SpaceX? The funding they received was earmarked to support unserved census blocks. If any company is in a position to help unserv

Is it odd they are going after SpaceX? The funding they received was earmarked to support unserved census blocks. If any company is in a position to help unserved rural areas it is SpaceX, no?

giacaglia 5y ago
Not odd. Expected
drooby 5y ago
It only effects something like 6% of blocks that SpaceX would get the funds for… so basically instead of SpaceX getting $880m they’ll get $825m.
SloopJon 5y ago
If up to $100 million of that was to places like highway medians and a "parking garage ... surrounded on all sides by multiple companies offering gigabit service," then no, it's not odd at all.
- TheParkShark 5y ago
  If I understand correctly SpaceX internet is from a satellite. Surely it would would in a larger area than a parking garage or a median right?
ogjunkyard 5y ago
I feel like the lean on SpaceX in this article is because it's a popular name at the moment. In the article, it mentions that SpaceX received grants for urban areas for things like airport parking lots. Also mentioned were areas already served by one or more companies with 25/3 broadband. Those were the types of locations that funding was being pulled for.
josefx 5y ago
Maybe they currently don't meet all the requirements?[1] [1] https://www.fcc.gov/auction/904/factsheet https://www.fcc.gov/auction/904/factsheet
simiones 5y ago
> If any company is in a position to help unserved rural areas it is SpaceX, no? Not really - it is very unlikely that SpaceX will be able to cost-effectively serve high-speed internet for any interesting amount of people in a relatively small geographic area, such as the United States, as at any one time only a very small number of satellites can serve a particular area. This becomes especially problematic with any realistically achievable size of the constellation, which is going to be much closer to the current size (~1700 satellites) than to the "promised" size (~42k satellites). Laying cable seems much more achievable and maintainable than launching 42k satellites every 2-5 years as Elon is "promising" (remember that the maximum life span of any satellite in LEO, as mentioned by SpaceX, is 5 years, after which it will de-orbit naturally).
- kaiju0 5y ago
  The new starship platform should be able to launch 400 satellites per launch. They would only need 30 launches a year to support the constellation.
  - tsimionescu 5y ago
    Sure, and each launch will only cost $2 million, and the same rocket will do earth-to-earth travel. In 10 years they'll have 3 colonies on Mars connected by hyperloops, and they'll rescue those kids with the mini-sub. I'm sure Starship will fly in a few years and carry more satellites at a better cost per ton than existing rockets, but there is no reason at all to believe anything close to the announced timelines, sizes, and costs. At any cost per launch per ton that is even somewhat comparable to any existing rocket (say half of), 42k satellites is far too expensive.
  - vincnetas 5y ago
    "Only 30" launches :) this reminded me about factorio where it takes you 95% of the game to launch first rocket, and then if you built your automations right, just sit and relax and watch rockets ascend one after another without you doing anything :)
g_sch 5y ago
It looks like they're only trying to claw back a small portion of the overall award to SpaceX ($111m out of $885m), so on its own, this doesn't look like a move to kneecap SpaceX. At least not on the scale of what we see with AWS vs. Azure on the JEDI contract.
- TheParkShark 5y ago
  Compared to others (Charter) they are having a larger portion pulled back from them. They didn’t even receive the largest contract.
duxup 5y ago
Is it 'gong after SpaceX' or just a case of questioning if they should have gotten the money or not? I'm not sure any contact or such is 'going after'.

Is it odd they are going after SpaceX? The funding they received was earmarked to support unserved census blocks. If any company is in a position to help unserved rural areas it is SpaceX, no?

giacaglia 5y ago

Not odd. Expected

drooby 5y ago

It only effects something like 6% of blocks that SpaceX would get the funds for… so basically instead of SpaceX getting $880m they’ll get $825m.

SloopJon 5y ago

If up to $100 million of that was to places like highway medians and a "parking garage ... surrounded on all sides by multiple companies offering gigabit service," then no, it's not odd at all.

TheParkShark 5y ago
If I understand correctly SpaceX internet is from a satellite. Surely it would would in a larger area than a parking garage or a median right?

ogjunkyard 5y ago

I feel like the lean on SpaceX in this article is because it's a popular name at the moment. In the article, it mentions that SpaceX received grants for urban areas for things like airport parking lots. Also mentioned were areas already served by one or more companies with 25/3 broadband. Those were the types of locations that funding was being pulled for.

josefx 5y ago

Maybe they currently don't meet all the requirements?[1] [1] https://www.fcc.gov/auction/904/factsheet https://www.fcc.gov/auction/904/factsheet

simiones 5y ago

> If any company is in a position to help unserved rural areas it is SpaceX, no? Not really - it is very unlikely that SpaceX will be able to cost-effectively serve high-speed internet for any interesting amount of people in a relatively small geographic area, such as the United States, as at any one time only a very small number of satellites can serve a particular area. This becomes especially problematic with any realistically achievable size of the constellation, which is going to be much closer to the current size (~1700 satellites) than to the "promised" size (~42k satellites). Laying cable seems much more achievable and maintainable than launching 42k satellites every 2-5 years as Elon is "promising" (remember that the maximum life span of any satellite in LEO, as mentioned by SpaceX, is 5 years, after which it will de-orbit naturally).

kaiju0 5y ago
The new starship platform should be able to launch 400 satellites per launch. They would only need 30 launches a year to support the constellation.
- tsimionescu 5y ago
  Sure, and each launch will only cost $2 million, and the same rocket will do earth-to-earth travel. In 10 years they'll have 3 colonies on Mars connected by hyperloops, and they'll rescue those kids with the mini-sub. I'm sure Starship will fly in a few years and carry more satellites at a better cost per ton than existing rockets, but there is no reason at all to believe anything close to the announced timelines, sizes, and costs. At any cost per launch per ton that is even somewhat comparable to any existing rocket (say half of), 42k satellites is far too expensive.
- vincnetas 5y ago
  "Only 30" launches :) this reminded me about factorio where it takes you 95% of the game to launch first rocket, and then if you built your automations right, just sit and relax and watch rockets ascend one after another without you doing anything :)

g_sch 5y ago

It looks like they're only trying to claw back a small portion of the overall award to SpaceX ($111m out of $885m), so on its own, this doesn't look like a move to kneecap SpaceX. At least not on the scale of what we see with AWS vs. Azure on the JEDI contract.

TheParkShark 5y ago
Compared to others (Charter) they are having a larger portion pulled back from them. They didn’t even receive the largest contract.

duxup 5y ago

Is it 'gong after SpaceX' or just a case of questioning if they should have gotten the money or not? I'm not sure any contact or such is 'going after'.