Not only competing on the ground, tech companies also have a tough battle in space. Currently in the lead, but SpaceX is dealing with a lot of big players.
The technology giants like Amazon, SpaceX, OneWeb continuously pour money to invest in satellite Internet. Photo: TechCrunch In recent years, satellite broadband is becoming an increasingly popular way to connect to the Internet. Major space companies are also in the race to build ultra-high-speed Internet services through orbiting satellites. Now, the field is forming a model similar to the “Seven Warring Heroes”. The companies are all moving towards a common goal: competing to be the biggest brand in broadband satellite and SpaceX’s position with Starlink dominance is being challenged. SpaceX’s Starlink project SpaceX boss – Elon Musk Of all the companies, SpaceX is the one involved with the most satellite launches. Its Starlink project has more than 1,350 satellites in orbit and plans to launch 42,000 satellites by mid-2027. Eventually, SpaceX hopes to have thousands of satellites around the Earth to establish a global network. Starlink’s Beta “Better than Nothing” was launched last October and attracted more than 10,000 users in six different countries. Starlink’s business model connects customers directly with satellites without the intervention of telecom companies between the two parties. Users register for Starlink service through the website. Once the order is accepted, Starlink will send the hardware set to the customer, which includes a tripod, WiFi router and satellite antenna. Monthly subscription fee is $ 99, and maximum download speed can reach 210 Mbps. Starlink is expanding rapidly and plans to install antennas on vehicles and connect them to satellite networks. According to the test of Internet analytics service developer Ookla, the download speed when using SpaceX’s satellite Internet is 95% faster than the normal Internet in the United States. Project Kuiper from Amazon The Amazon project is named Kuiper In 2018, Amazon’s Kuiper Project was revealed. At that time, government documents showed that the tech giant was working to build global space-based Internet services. The goal of the project is to launch 3236 satellites into a 630 km long orbit, very close to the 550 km altitude of the Starlink satellite. In January of this year, the US Federal Communications Commission approved the Kuiper Project to launch Amazon satellites into space before July 2029, and connect them to antennas on Earth to provide translation. Internet service. As of July 30, 2026, 50% of the project’s satellites will operate. Like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, the boss of Amazon, also owns a private rocket and space service company called Blue Orgin. Although no specific plans have been announced, the company is believed to be in charge of bringing the Kuiper satellite into orbit. OneWeb The Soyuz-2.1b carrier missile carries 36 OneWeb satellites that take off from the launch pad of the Vostocini launch pad. OneWeb is a UK owned broadband satellite provider. It currently has 146 satellites in orbit, 1,200 km from the ground and plans to launch a total of 648 satellites to provide global Internet service. In November last year, the company got out of bankruptcy thanks to the British government and India’s Bharti Group. OneWeb hopes to provide Internet services to the entire UK by June. Its latest service will cover the highest latitudes in the world, including Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Russia and Nordic countries. This British company provides a B2B model, provides satellite Internet to telecom companies, then the telecom companies deliver services to customers. Both SpaceX and OneWeb launched satellites into space on March 25, clearly showing a race between the world’s two leading powers in space technology. Hughes Net Satellite team Hughes Jupiter 2 Hughes Net is the largest satellite Internet provider in the United States. It relies on geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites 36,210 km away to transmit the Internet back to earth. The main difference between a satellite operating in low Earth Orbit (LEO) and a geostationary satellite is that GEO satellites can cause delays in video calls and public calls. other technology. However, the GEO satellites are in a fixed position, so unlike LEO satellites, they will not travel in orbit but target a specific area. The Hughes Network has more than 1.5 million users and six satellites in orbit, covering different areas of North America, South America and Canada, including Mexico, Brazil and Chile. The last satellite that Hughes launched was in June 2018 and its goal is to put another satellite, called Jupiter 3, into orbit by the second half of 2022. It is said that this will be a commercial satellite. the biggest ever. Hughes’ satellite service costs range from $ 59.99 to $ 149.99 per month and download speeds of 25Mbps. The kit is priced at $ 249.99, and the installation costs $ 199. The company also offers public WiFi hotspots for rural Latin America for people who cannot afford subscription fees. Telesat Daniel Goldberg, CEO and President of Telesat, Canada’s satellite operator Telesat has 15 GEO satellites at an altitude of 35,000 km above Earth. The company also plans to build an LEO Internet called “LightSpeed”. The first 298 satellites built by Thales Alenia Space are scheduled to launch in early 2023 and provide global services by 2024. According to reports, Goldberg confirmed at the 2021 LEO Satellite Digital Forum on April 6 that the LightSpeed project would cost $ 5 billion. This is much cheaper than the projects of SpaceX and Amazon, which are more than $ 10 billion. Goldberg recently stated that Telesat has the best pricing in the market. In 2019, Telesat signed a launch agreement with Blue Origin to use New Glenn rockets to send LEO satellites into orbit. David Wendling, Telesat’s chief technology officer, revealed that the company has three other startups underway. ViaSat ViaSat application on smartphone ViaSat is headquartered in California, USA, operates five GEO satellites at an altitude of about 35,000 km from the Earth’s surface. The company will put three extremely powerful GEO satellites into orbit by the beginning of 2022 and achieve globalization goals until 2023. ViaSat also plans to put 288 satellites into orbit LEO by 2026. ViaSat executive chairman and co-founder Mark Dankberg said the GEO and LEO satellites would complement each other. ViaSat is working hard to create a “multi-orbit satellite Internet where users can seamlessly use GEO satellites and LEO satellites.” In December 2020, Viasat asked the FCC to study Starlink’s potential environmental impact. In response, Musk wrote on Twitter: “Obviously, Starlink is a ‘threat’ to Viasat’s profits.” Eutelsat Eutelsat is Europe’s satellite operator with 39 GEO satellites at an altitude of 46,000 km. The company now provides Internet services to the regions of Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and plans to launch another satellite called Konnect VHTS to cover the rest of Europe. Michel Azibert, Executive Vice President of Eutelsat, said: “Konnect VHTS will change the rules of the game and allow Eutelsat to seamlessly deliver powerful Internet services to users at prices comparable to the above operators. ground.” Azibert says Eutelsat’s satellite service “is much lower than Starlink, very well suited to the rural markets we’re targeting in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.” Eutelsat was founded in 1977 and launched its first satellite in 1983.
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