Satellite internet constellation explained

A satellite internet constellation is a constellation of artificial satellites providing satellite internet service. In particular, the term has come to refer to a new generation of very large constellations (sometimes referred to as megaconstellations[1]) orbiting in low Earth orbit (LEO) to provide low-latency, high bandwidth (broadband) internet service.[2] As of 2020, 63 percent of rural households worldwide lack internet access due to the infrastructure requirements of underground cables and network towers. Satellite internet constellations offer a low-cost solution for expanding coverage.[3]

History

While more-limited satellite internet services have been available through geosynchronous commsats orbiting in geostationary orbit for years, these have been of quite limited bandwidth (not broadband), high-latency, and provided at such a relatively high price that demand for the services offered has been quite low.[4] [5] [6]

In the 1990s, several LEO satellite internet constellations were proposed and developed, including Celestri (63 satellites) and Teledesic (initially 840, later 288 satellites). These projects were abandoned after the bankruptcy of the Iridium and Globalstar satellite phone constellations in the early 00s.

In the 2010s, interest in satellite internet constellations reemerged due to the dropping cost of launching to space and the increased demand for broadband internet access. Internet satellite constellations are planned by private companies like OneWeb (OneWeb constellation),[7] [8] SpaceX (Starlink),[9] [10] Amazon (Project Kuiper),[11] [12] Samsung and Russia's Roscosmos (Sfera)[13] [14] and China (Hongwan, 2018, or national satellite internet project, 2021).[15] By late 2018, more than 18,000 new satellites had been proposed to be launched and placed in LEO orbits between 2019 and 2025. This is more than ten times as many satellites as the sum of all active satellites in space as of March 2018. More recent proposals by 2020 could bring that number to over 100,000.[16]

A year after the start of fielding the first satellite internet constellation—Starlink which began launching in late 2019 and began beta test of the network in late 2020; OneWeb began satellite deployment in 1H2020—the competitive disruption to established satellite company business models began to be better understood. In early 2021, the three largest European satellite operators SES, Eutelsat, and Hispasat—which had until that time eschewed developing and fielding a broadband satellite internet constellation with private funds—informed the European Commission that they would be willing to invest in the development of such a project if the European Union were to invest government funds in the effort as well.[17] All three companies had formerly focused on the provision of communication services from GEO and MEO orbits, while the newer satellite internet providers have been fielding their constellations exclusively in LEO.[17]

In 2018, the Russian government established the Sphere constellation program, to consist of 162 satellites, providing broadband internet connectivity, message relay, video broadcast, and remote sensing services. In October 2022, a demonstrator satellite called Skif-D technology was launched.[18]

Design

Proposed systems vary greatly in the number of satellites, the types of orbits and the telecommunication architecture (in particular the presence or absence of inter-satellite links). System designs have been analyzed using statistical methods and simulations to estimate the total throughput.[19] Particularly challenging is the dynamic nature of the network, as LEO satellites typically pass over a given location in less than 10 minutes.[20]

Potential

For continental distances (greater than about 3,000 km[21]), LEO satellite internet networks are expected to be able to provide lower latency than optical fiber links.[22] [23] This is expected to hold even without inter-satellite links, using only ground station relays.[24] [25] The new networks are said to be able to "potentially compete with today's ISPs in many settings".

Issues and criticism

Critics have objected against the increased light pollution for astronomy, the increased possibility satellite collisions resulting in space debris and, more generally, a lack of end-of-life cleanup for the increasing number of satellites that would become space debris.[26]

Astronomers have studied the potential effects increased satellite usage in Low Earth Orbit would have on Very Large Telescope that use ultra-wide imaging exposures, such as the 8.4-meter Simonyi Survey Telescope[27] used in the Legacy Survey of Space and Time project at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. They found that 30 to 40% of exposures could be compromised during the first and last hours of the night.[28] A study found that twilight observations are particularly affected by SC and that the fraction of streaked images taken during twilight has increased from less than 0.5% in late 2019 to 18% in August 2021 due to SpaceX Starlink Satellites.[29] Astronomers have also voiced concern over the impact satellite internet constellations will have on radio astronomy.[30]

Additional research is needed to determine impact of (inter alia) light pollution on various locations, communities, indigenous peoples, and other forms of observation.

Mitigation in astronomy

A report from the SATCON1 workshop in 2020 concluded that the effects of large satellite constellations can severely affect some astronomical research efforts and lists six ways to mitigate harm to astronomy.[31] [32] In 2022, the IAU announced the Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference to coordinate or aggregate measures to mitigate such detrimental effects.[33] [34] [35] The AAS is maintaining a living document that tracks recent progress in the field.[36]

Space governance

UN Guidelines and ISO standard 24113 on space debris mitigation "encourages" organizations to voluntarily:[37]

A study suggests policies could help achieve the goal of debris mitigation and space sustainability.[37] A team of scientists outlined rationale for governance that regulates the current free externalization of true costs and risks, treating orbital space around the Earth as an "additional ecosystem" or a common "part of the human environment" which should be subject to the same concerns and regulations like e.g. oceans on Earth. The study concludes that it needs "new policies, rules and regulations at national and international level".[38] [39]

As of 2022, global space activity is not sufficiently shaped by any international entity, and therefore "there is no common set of rules that govern global space activity and no mechanisms to ensure the proper disposal of hardware at the completion of space missions. Nor is there any coordinated effort to clean up the decades of space debris already accumulated in orbit."[40]

Constellations

Operational

Planned

Defunct

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Henry. Caleb. 25 June 2019. Megaconstellation ventures cautious about deployment milestones. SpaceNews. 3 July 2019.
  2. News: 8 March 2018. NSR Reports China's Ambitious Constellation of 300 Small Satellites in LEO. SatNews. 24 March 2018. The most visible or at least, the most talked about LEO contenders stem from the U.S. and Canada, numbering at least 11 with planned satellites to be deployed at around 18,000..
  3. Book: Young, Makena . Low Orbit, High Stakes: All-In on the LEO Broadband Competition . Thadani . Akhil . December 1, 2022 . Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
  4. News: Brodkin. Jon . Satellite Internet faster than advertised, but latency still awful . Ars Technica . 15 February 2013 . 24 March 2018 . Satellite latency is 638ms, 20 times higher than terrestrial broadband. .
  5. Web site: Latency- why is it a big deal for Satellite Internet? . 2013 . VSAT Systems . 24 March 2018 .
  6. Web site: What is the difference between terrestrial (land based) Internet and satellite Internet service? . Network Innovation Associates . 2014 . 24 March 2018 .
  7. News: Boucher . Marc . Will Google Build a Satellite Constellation? . 25 March 2018 . SpaceRef Business . 3 June 2014 . 16 July 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140716035558/http://spaceref.biz/company/will-google-build-a-satellite-constellation.html . dead .
  8. News: Winkler. Rolfe . Pasztor. Andy . Elon Musk's Next Mission: Internet Satellites SpaceX, Tesla Founder Explores Venture to Make Lighter, Cheaper Satellites . 25 March 2018 . Wall Street Journal . 11 July 2014.
  9. News: Petersen. Melody . Elon Musk and Richard Branson invest in satellite-Internet ventures . 19 January 2015 . Los Angeles Times . 16 January 2015 .
  10. News: Brodkin. Jon . SpaceX and OneWeb broadband satellites raise fears about space debris . . 2017-10-04 . 2017-10-07 .
  11. News: Sheetz. Michael . Amazon wants to launch thousands of satellites so it can offer broadband internet from space . . 4 April 2019 . 19 September 2019 .
  12. https://spacenews.com/amazon-lays-out-constellation-service-goals-deployment-and-deorbit-plans-to-fcc/ Amazon lays out constellation service goals, deployment and deorbit plans to FCC
  13. Web site: Russia to start deploying new cluster of Sfera next-generation satellites from 2021 .
  14. Web site: "SCOPE" of common interests .
  15. News: Chinese rocket company Space Pioneer secures major funding ahead of first launch . Jones. Andrew . . 27 July 2021 . 27 July 2021.
  16. Web site: Grush . Loren . A future with tens of thousands of new satellites could 'fundamentally change' astronomy: report . The Verge . 22 November 2020 . en . 26 August 2020.
  17. News: GROUP CONVERSION, OR PAY US & WE BELIEVE? SES, EUTELSAT, HISPASAT SAY THEY'D INVEST IN EU LEO BROADBAND PROJECT . de Selding. Peter B. . Space Intel Report . 11 January 2021 . 11 January 2021 .
  18. News: Failure of Japan's Epsilon rocket blamed on attitude control system . Clark . Stephen . Spaceflight Now . 18 October 2022 . 23 October 2022.
  19. del Portillo. Inigo. Cameron. Bruce G.. Crawley. Edward F.. 2019-06-01. A technical comparison of three low earth orbit satellite constellation systems to provide global broadband. Acta Astronautica. en. 159. 123–135. 10.1016/j.actaastro.2019.03.040. 2019AcAau.159..123D . 0094-5765. 1721.1/135044.2. 115993580 . free.
  20. Book: Bhattacherjee. Debopam. Singla. Ankit. Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Emerging Networking Experiments and Technologies . Network topology design at 27,000 km/Hour . 2019-12-03. https://doi.org/10.1145/3359989.3365407. CoNEXT '19. Orlando, Florida. Association for Computing Machinery. 341–354. 10.1145/3359989.3365407. 978-1-4503-6998-5. 208946393 .
  21. Book: Bhattacherjee. Debopam. Aqeel. Waqar. Bozkurt. Ilker Nadi. Aguirre. Anthony. Chandrasekaran. Balakrishnan. Godfrey. P. Brighten. Laughlin. Gregory. Maggs. Bruce. Singla. Ankit. Proceedings of the 17th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Networks . Gearing up for the 21st century space race . 2018-11-15. HotNets '18. Redmond, WA, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. 113–119. 10.1145/3286062.3286079. 978-1-4503-6120-0. free.
  22. Book: Handley, Mark. Proceedings of the 17th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Networks . Delay is Not an Option . 2018-11-15. https://doi.org/10.1145/3286062.3286075. HotNets '18. Redmond, WA, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. 85–91. 10.1145/3286062.3286075. 978-1-4503-6120-0. 53284161 .
  23. Web site: Heaven. Douglas. 7 November 2018. The first detailed look at how Elon Musk's space internet could work. 2020-11-22. New Scientist. en-US.
  24. Book: Handley, Mark. Proceedings of the 18th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Networks . Using ground relays for low-latency wide-area routing in megaconstellations . 2019-11-14. https://doi.org/10.1145/3365609.3365859. HotNets '19. Princeton, NJ, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. 125–132. 10.1145/3365609.3365859. 978-1-4503-7020-2. 207960066 .
  25. Web site: Press. Larry. December 30, 2019. Starlink Simulation Shows Low Latency Without Inter-Satellite Laser Links. 2020-11-22. www.circleid.com. en.
  26. News: Grush . Loren . As satellite constellations grow larger, NASA is worried about orbital debris . 22 March 2022 . The Verge . 28 September 2018 . en.
  27. Web site: About LSST Rubin Observatory . www.lsst.org . 2 April 2013 . 22 November 2020.
  28. Hainaut . Olivier R. . Williams . Andrew P. . Impact of satellite constellations on astronomical observations with ESO telescopes in the visible and infrared domains . Astronomy & Astrophysics . 1 April 2020 . 636 . A121 . 10.1051/0004-6361/202037501. 2003.01992 . 2020A&A...636A.121H . 22 November 2020 . en . 0004-6361. free .
  29. Mróz . Przemek . Otarola . Angel . Prince . Thomas A. . Dekany . Richard . Duev . Dmitry A. . Graham . Matthew J. . Groom . Steven L. . Masci . Frank J. . Medford . Michael S. . Impact of the SpaceX Starlink Satellites on the Zwicky Transient Facility Survey Observations . The Astrophysical Journal Letters . 1 January 2022 . 924 . 2 . L30 . 10.3847/2041-8213/ac470a . 2201.05343 . 2022ApJ...924L..30M . en . 2041-8205. free .
  30. Web site: Kimbrough . Adam . Satellite constellations and radio astronomy . www.thespacereview.com . The Space Review . 22 November 2020.
  31. News: Zhang . Emily . SpaceX's Dark Satellites Are Still Too Bright for Astronomers . 16 September 2020 . Scientific American . en.
  32. News: Report Offers Roadmap to Mitigate Effects of Large Satellite Constellations on Astronomy American Astronomical Society . 16 September 2020 . aas.org.
  33. News: Astronomers stand up to satellite mega-constellations . 10 March 2022 . BBC News . 4 February 2022.
  34. Web site: Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference . Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Bonn . 10 March 2022 . en.
  35. Web site: International Astronomical Union IAU . www.iau.org . 10 March 2022 . 13 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220313084016/https://www.iau.org/science/scientific_bodies/centres/CPS/ . dead .
  36. Web site: Impacts of Large Satellite Constellations on Astronomy: Live Updates American Astronomical Society . aas.org . 22 March 2022 . en.
  37. Web site: Williams . Andrew P. . Rotola . Giuliana . Bringing policy coherence to satellite constellation mitigations for space debris and astronomy . 22 March 2022 . de . 2021.
  38. News: Orbital space around Earth must be protected amid rise in satellites, say scientists . 13 May 2022 . The Guardian . 22 April 2022 . en.
  39. Lawrence . Andy . Rawls . Meredith L. . Jah . Moriba . Boley . Aaron . Di Vruno . Federico . Garrington . Simon . Kramer . Michael . Lawler . Samantha . Lowenthal . James . McDowell . Jonathan . McCaughrean . Mark . The case for space environmentalism . Nature Astronomy . April 2022 . 6 . 4 . 428–435 . 10.1038/s41550-022-01655-6 . 2204.10025 . 2022NatAs...6..428L . 248300127 . en . 2397-3366.
  40. Web site: Without sustainable practices, orbital debris will hinder space's gold rush . TechCrunch . 2 March 2022 . 22 March 2022.
  41. Web site: Jones . Andrew . China launches first satellites for Thousand Sails megaconstellation . . 6 August 2024 . 8 August 2024.
  42. Web site: China Has Begun Launching its Own Satellite Internet Network . 15 July 2023 .
  43. Web site: China launches satellite internet that could challenge SpaceX's Starlink . 30 November 2023 .
  44. Web site: Press corner . 2023-10-12 . European Commission - European Commission . en.

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