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Billions of people on Earth do not have access to high-quality Internet. Companies are trying to solve the problem with space satellites. Trends tell about the most interesting and promising projects in this area
According to the Ericsson Mobility Report, over the past two years, the consumption of mobile Internet in the world has doubled. In 2, the average subscriber uses up to 2022 GB of traffic per month, and by the end of 15 this figure will grow to 2027 GB. Ericsson experts fear that current technology will not be able to handle the load. In addition, the problem of Internet accessibility in regions with underdeveloped infrastructure remains. In this regard, companies are increasingly paying attention to satellite Internet.
Satellite communication for old phones
Elon Musk’s SpaceX and T-Mobile signed an agreement in 2022 under which the companies will provide 5G Internet access throughout the United States. The project will start in 2023. As planned, SpaceX’s new generation of Starlink satellites, scheduled to launch in 2023, will be able to communicate directly with even older phones, allowing users to send text messages, make calls, and possibly broadcast video. Both companies are interested in partnering with mobile operators around the world so that T-Mobile customers can use their service even abroad. SpaceX plans to deploy a constellation of 30 satellites.
In addition, SpaceX is developing its satellite communications on the water and in the air. In July 2022, the company launched the Starlink Maritime service for merchant ships, oil rigs and premium yachts. In August, the Royal Caribbean cruise company announced the launch of Starlink on all its ships, as well as sea and ocean liners. In September, SpaceX conducted a test of satellite internet on an aircraft operated by US regional airline JSX. During it, the data transfer rate constantly exceeded 100 Mbps. For comparison, as part of the Starlink Premium subscription, users on the ground receive Internet speeds from 150 to 500 Mbps. The operator claims to be able to service aircraft of all sizes. The company has already signed an agreement with Hawaiian Airlines to serve Airbus and Boeing.
In September 2022, the broadband Internet service from Starlink became available on all continents of the Earth. However, SpaceX does not plan to connect residents of our country, Belarus, China, North Korea, Syria, Afghanistan, Cuba and Venezuela to Starlink.
Emergency satellite communication via iPhone
In September 2022, Apple presented the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro smartphones and announced that they will support satellite communication technology in emergencies. The company is partnering with US carrier Globalstar to use the company’s 24-satellite constellation to launch the new option. Apple has invested $450 million in satellite infrastructure.
The feature will allow users to send emergency messages when they are out of signal range. The phone’s antennas will be connected to satellite frequencies, so sending a message in normal weather will take less than 15 seconds.
The Apple Emergency SOS service will initially only be available in the US and Canada. The company has already set up special relay centers, where emergency specialists work, who, upon receiving an alarm message, will be able to call the emergency service.
Globalstar itself also intends to develop partnerships with cable companies, wireless operators, system integrators, utilities and other infrastructure operators.
5G via satellites
Another industry giant, Amazon, has been developing the Project Kuiper project for years, but the company plans to use its satellite constellation to transmit data to cell towers, and not directly to smartphones. In 2021, the company began working with US carrier Verizon to expand 4G/LTE and 5G coverage in remote areas of the globe. Thus, the Kuiper satellites will provide communications through Verizon’s cell towers.
Amazon plans to create a constellation of 3236 satellites in low Earth orbit. This will provide Internet connectivity to remote and rural areas. While testing the Kuiper prototype, the company said its system would be capable of up to 400 Mbps throughput.
Amazon has not yet launched a single satellite. As part of its license, the company is required to launch 1618 spacecraft into orbit by 2026.
Another company, British-based OneWeb, has already launched 428 satellites out of an estimated constellation of 648. In 2022, the company entered into space launch agreements with SpaceX, French Arianespace, American Relativity Space and the Indian Space Research Organization. At the moment, the operator’s network is limited to the upper part of the northern hemisphere. In our country, OneWeb does not provide services: in March 2022, the company ceased cooperation with Roskosmos on all planned satellite launches. In addition, OneWeb and French satellite operator Eutelsat entered into a merger agreement to compete with SpaceX and Amazon. Access services from OneWeb will also be offered by Speedcast, Australia’s leading communications and IT services provider. The company also signed an agreement with the Spanish telecommunications operator Telefonica to provide satellite Internet services in remote regions of Europe and Latin America.
Satellite communication without reference to the country
The American company Lynk Global presented a project for a worldwide emergency network that will work with any phone. Back in 2020, she demonstrated that through her satellite “cell tower” you can send a message to an Android device, the owner of which is located in the Falkland Islands. This did not require special equipment. The company developed software that “tricked” a smartphone into mistaking a satellite for an ordinary ground tower. Lynk intends to deploy its own “constellation” of mini-satellites. The company is now partnering with a number of telecom operators around the world to allow their customers to send text messages using the satellite network in the future.
The American company AST SpaceMobile hopes to use satellite communications for 4G and even 5G Internet. It will deploy its BlueWalker test satellite before the end of 2022. AST has already entered into an agreement with Vodafone, one of the world’s largest mobile operators, and has also received an investment from Rakuten, a mobile operator in Japan. The company is testing its service in ten countries.
Secret Google Project
In September 2022, Google launched a secret project called Aalyria. The company will strive to make high-speed communications available where there is no infrastructure, as well as improve satellite communications, Wi-Fi on aircraft and ships, and cellular communications.
In fact, this project will be a continuation of earlier initiatives of Google, including Loon, a project to use high-flying balloons to transfer super-fast Internet to hard-to-reach areas. The company closed the project in 2021, but its technologies will be used in Aalyria.
Aalyria will have two teams of engineers. One will focus on using the Loon software and turning it into a cloud-based system to manage complex networks. This will provide high-speed Internet to satellites, aircraft and maritime transport. The other part will be revisiting Google’s products to create a line of laser-based wireless networking equipment.
Project Sonora’s wireless networking technology was dubbed Tightbeam, but its specifications weren’t revealed to the audience. It is known to be a laser communication system that uses beams of light to transmit data between base stations and end points. Google specifies that the new technology will allow sending data at speeds up to 1,6 TB / s over hundreds of kilometers, which is about 1000 times faster than modern counterparts.
Tightbeam was spun off from a Google project called Sonora, which the company hasn’t publicly released details about. However, Alphabet was running another Loon-related laser project: Project Taara to provide internet services in Africa using lasers originally designed to connect balloons. At Taara, these lasers, known as free-space optical links, have been used to extend the capabilities of traditional fiber optic links.
At the same time, Google announced that the next version of its operating system, Android 14, will support satellite communications. It should be released in the middle or end of 2023. So far, there are no details on how this system will work.
Satellite communications with the Moon and Mars
The American startup Aquarian Space announced in 2022 that it plans to build a communication system between the Earth, the Moon and Mars. Broadband Internet on the Moon is going to be deployed by 2024.
The satellite network will be called Solnet and will provide 100 Mbps data transmission, which is enough for 4K video streaming.
Aquarian is conducting technical reviews of its system with several member companies of the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
Russian “Sphere”
In April 2022, the Russian government approved a 10-year project to create the Sphere multi-satellite constellation. The amount of funding for the program will be about ₽95 billion.
“Sphere” is a complex project that will include a system for remote sensing of the earth (ERS) and navigation (GLONASS), satellite communication systems “Express-RV” and “Gonets”, as well as a “space data bus” for the provision of satellite telephone services , the Internet, receiving data from sensors and systems of the Internet of things and drones.
Sergey Prokhorov, director of the department for advanced programs and the Sphere project, noted that Sphere satellites will provide reliable communication to passengers of any transport, as well as broadband Internet, including at high latitudes and along the Northern Sea Route.
As part of the Sphere project, it is planned to launch 137 satellites of the Marathon Internet of Things constellation, six Skif devices for the broadband Internet access system, four Express-RV communication satellites, as well as Earth observation satellites. At the end of August 2022, at the Vostochny cosmodrome, preparations began for the launch of the first satellite of the Skif-D project.
Now, on the basis of JSC Satellite System Gonets (part of Roskosmos), work is underway to create a national operator for promising orbital groups, Sfera. The project partners are Federal State Unitary Enterprise Kosmicheskaya Svyaz and Gazprom Space Systems.
The terminal for connecting to the Internet “Marathon” will cost about ₽1,5 thousand.
In addition, scientists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology have begun developing a domestic central ground satellite station to replace foreign equipment. At the same time, they are developing technology to connect 5G mobile networks to satellite communications to provide next-generation communications to sites far from essential infrastructure, such as mines, gas fields or villages. MIPT is working to ensure that the technology supports the Internet of Things and video transmission.
In 2021, the State Duma approved a bill on fines for Russian operators that use foreign satellite systems. However, the global satellite operator Iridium of American origin continues to operate in the country, serving more than 30 users in hard-to-reach regions. Iridium services are actively used by civil servants, employees of law enforcement agencies and enterprises, especially in the Far North. The operator’s constellation includes 68 satellites.