As recently discussed in our Mars Helicopter buzz, space flight is a fascinating area that is advancing extremely quickly.
I’m sure most people aren’t aware of the speed this is happening and the amount of rockets going into space. For example did you know a shuttle launched recently, February 15th?
I thought I would take a moment to share with you something that in my opinion is going to change our world.
Communication – is everything in our modern world. it’s actually scary to think how much we all us some form of technology to communicate in one way or another. Then to add to that, think about how may devices you have that “communicate” by themselves or you use to communicate with.
For example, I’m using laptop right now to type this post, I also have my smart phone to hand which I will use at the same time. My home heating system is permanently connected. I have several smart TV’s and smart home devices, even my doorbell takes videos and connects to the net.. and it goes on and on. I appreciate not everyone is like this (I am a self-confessed geek), but you get my point. We, as humans, need to communicate, and technology makes that easier.
The main underlying communication method is the Internet. Everything these days uses the internet. Can you imagine what would happen if the internet was “switched off” for a week? It would be total chaos.
So what does all this have to do with space? Starlink, that’s what!
Starlink in summary is Elon Musks answer to the new Internet. A new way to bring connectivity/communication to the world. Thousands and thousands of super intelligent satellites obverting the earth providing high speed internet to everyone! By the way, the Internet was created in 1983.
Now satellite internet connectivity has been around for years, but it’s always suffered with latency (speed, lag) and cost.
So how has Musk addressed this? The Starlink satellites are super high-tech, they are 60 times closer to the earth than a traditional satellite and there will be a lot of them. The shuttle that launched on the 15th took another 60 satellites into space. As of 16th February there is now a total of 1,145 Starlink Satellites orbiting! That’s not bad considering the first two test satellites launched on 22nd February 2018.
The program is also designed to provide connectivity to areas of the world that currently don’t have it, or they have very poor connections. Have you tried using a slow 1mbps internet connection?
The Starlink team have even been working on ways to reduce light pollution from the sat’s, so star gazers can still… gaze.
I could talk a lot more on this subject, but for now I will leave you with this.
Next time you’re out flying and looking up at the sky, stop and think what might be orbiting above you. Oh… please land first before doing so!
You can read more about Starlink here:
A picture showing a batch of 60 satellites loaded and ready to go!
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