12
Another Jeff Bezos company has announced plans to develop a megaconstellation (arstechnica.com)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/spaceflight@sh.itjust.works
11 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [S] 5 points 6 months ago (1 child)

Blue Origin

I don't understand this company at all. Why would they add this to the mix? It really seems like Bezos' only motivation is to compete with SpaceX for everything.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    TBF this is a very different proposition than Starlink, enterprise-only, MUCH higher bandwidth (6 Tbps!) and presumably higher latency due to the larger distance to earth. To my knowledge nothing like this has been proposed by anyone so far.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 2 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    They should prove those speeds before I believe them.

    I'm weary of more incompatible internet megaconstellations, especially when this one has the money behind it to actually launch.

    I don't understand why Blue and Amazon both have constellations, or why the Amazon one couldn't have added a MEO optical backhaul layer, or how an "enterprise" focus actually differs from what Starlink already offers or Leo will offer. I suppose it's just a faster version of what Oneweb is doing.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago

    I think this one is more meant for high-speed links between (AI?) datacenters. In theory it could be more reliable than ground-based links, until a solar flare comes along of course. And once the constellation is up linking two locations that are very far apart is a hell of a lot easier than laying more cables.

    Anything Blue does or announces should be taken with a hefty grain of salt, so I fully endorse your scepticism about the speeds. We'll see how this one pans out. But from a purely technical standpoint it does sound kinda neat.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent