dr_orpheus

46 ms·

481.
by dr_orpheus 8y ago
There is definitely a market for this. Orbcomm already does this for a lot of machine to machine communication. However, their data rates are quite slow on the order of kbps.
482.
by dr_orpheus 8y ago
Cisco has built routers for space multiple times before. The first time was way back in 2003: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLEO_(router)
483.
by dr_orpheus 8y ago
This is not true of the orbit that the SpaceX satellites are going in to. LEO is a bit of a general term that covers altitudes anywhere from 100 km to 2000 km. While it is true that something at 400 km altitude will deorbit in a few months,
484.
by dr_orpheus 8y ago
True, the satellites within the orbital plane will remain close to stationary to each other. There will be some perturbations, but generally will be stationary relative to each other. In one of the plans I saw floating around the inter-sate
485.
by dr_orpheus 8y ago
This is for operating satellites, but the Air Force currently tracks ~21,000 pieces of debris in orbit (about anything larger than a baseball) around the earth.
486.
by dr_orpheus 8y ago
Yes, but your cell tower aren't moving around relative to each other. And in order to get the data rates that they need at the speed they need, the signals between the satellites will be more focused rf or laser communication. So all o
487.
by dr_orpheus 8y ago
The latency from the distance light travels does not vary that much. The rest of the ~600 ms latency is caused by the same thing as latency on ground systems (routers, etc.). And the processors on spacecraft are not particularly fast.
488.
by dr_orpheus 8y ago
Yeah, a significant portion of the latency is just the distance to the existing satellites in geosynchronous orbit. For light to get out and back to the geo belt is around 240 ms, excluding any other factors. Getting up to the promised giga
489.
by dr_orpheus 8y ago
There are restrictions in place already to make sure that satellites launched now will de-orbit (or be placed in to a non-operational orbit). In order to get a license from the FCC to operate a satellite you have to prove that you have some