Intel, Ubotica, and the ESA recently launched the first AI-enabled satellite into Earth’s orbit. The team told TNW about their hopes for the mission.
Starlink is a global satellite system being deployed by SpaceX to provide high-speed broadband Internet access to locations where it was unreliable, unreasonably expensive or completely inaccessible. All over the world, even in well-developed countries, there are many remote regions that are lagging far behind in the speed of digital development, and Germany is no exception. Nevertheless, good news awaits the residents of the country, because, according to a representative of Starlink, the company will enter the German market this year.
In Frankfurt am Main, the groundwork has been laid for the Starlink universal Internet offering. According to the relevant trade register entry, Starlink Germany GmbH must offer Internet connection services and the sale or rental of the necessary accessories.
“If everything goes according to plan, we will start this year in Germany,” said VP Build and Flight Reliability at SpaceX Hans Königsmann to Wirtschaftswoche. “Our mission is to provide fast Internet access to remote corners of the world.”
Prof. Dr. Thomas Kenkmann, geologist from the University of Freiburg’s Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, together with mineralogist Prof. Dr. Wolf Uwe Reimold from the University of Brasilia, Brazil, and Dr. Manfred Gottwald from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) published an atlas providing a comprehensive overview of all known impact craters on every continent. The authors present the more than 200 terrestrial impact sites in high-resolution topographic maps and satellite images, complete with detailed geological descriptions and photographs of the crater structures and their rocks. They also explain the essential details of each impact event.
The formation of craters by asteroid and comet impact has always been a fundamental process in the solar system, explains Kenkmann. As the planets developed along with their moons, these impacts played an important part in accreting planetary mass, shaping the surfaces of planetary bodies, and later also influencing their development. And larger meteorite impacts eventually affected the development of life on Earth.
Today, mapping of what can still be seen of the impact structures on the Earth’s surface can be done by satellites in low Earth orbit. From 2010 to 2016, the DLR successfully measured the Earth’s surface with the radar satellites of the TanDEM-X mission. The acquired data allowed, for the first time, to derive a worldwide terrain model with a height accuracy of up to one meter. From this global digital elevation model the authors have been able to produce this complete topographic atlas of 600 pages with information about all terrestrial impact craters known to date.
SpaceX has finally received approval from Canadian authorities to offer its Starlink satellite Internet service in the country, a decision that comes amid a recent expansion of the beta program in the US. With this approval in place, SpaceX will be able to offer rural Canadians access to high-speed broadband, something that will slowly expand into other countries, as well.
The telecoms industry is still several years away from agreeing on 6G’s specifications, so it is not yet certain the tech being trialled will make it into the final standard.
It involves use of high-frequency terahertz waves to achieve data-transmission speeds many times faster than 5G is likely to be capable of.
The satellite is meant to trial new technology expected to be many times faster than 5G.
#China is in the rush to shape the future.
The rollout of 5G networks is nowhere near complete, but China is already looking ahead to what comes next. The Asian power this week successfully launched the world’s first 6G satellite into space to test the technology.
The experimental satellite containing sixth-generation telecommunications technology was launched into Earth’s orbit from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in China’s northern Shanxi Province on Friday.
SpaceX rolled-out Starlink beta internet service in northern United States and southern Canada in October. To date, SpaceX has deployed around 888 internet-beaming satellites out of the 4,409 that will operate in low Earth orbit. SpaceX is looking forward to connecting locations around the world where internet connection is unreliable and non-existent. Earlier this year, SpaceX engineers said Starlink is capable of beaming internet connection to remote areas on Earth; 60 Starlink satellites have the capability to beam low-latency, high-speed broadband internet to 40,000 users streaming high-definition videos simultaneously. Starlink customers receive service via a phased-array antenna dish and Wi-Fi router device. Additionally, SpaceX will build hundreds of ground stations that will receive the satellite’s communication. The stations are the linking factor between user terminals and data center for the Starlink network.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) which regulates telecommunications service, granted SpaceX a telecommunications license to offer internet on August 7th this year. SpaceX recieved approval to operate ground stations on October 26. ACMA granted SpaceX licenses to operate a total of 24 Starlink ground stations in Australia, according to a document published by the regulatory agency.
Approximately 2.5 million individuals in Australia still lack access to internet at home due to the service being either too expensive or unavailable in the rural location they reside in. Connecting rural areas around the globe to the network provides benefits to civilization as a whole. The Internet provides an equal chance for everyone to have access to education and job opportunites at their fingertips. Amid the Coronavirus outbreak, the digital divide among communites became more apparent, many students had to study from home but their households did not have internet service. SpaceX hopes to close the digital divide in rural areas worldwide. As more satellites are deployed to orbit, SpaceX will expand broadband coverage to Australia and the rest of the planet in 2021.
China launched a Long March 6 rocket early Friday (Nov. 6), successfully sending 13 satellites into orbit.
The Long March 6 lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 11:19 a.m. local time Friday (0319 GMT; 10:19 p.m. EDT on Nov. 5) carrying 10 remote sensing satellites for Satellogic, an Argentine imagery company.
Evasive Maneuvers
In order to broadcast the 4G and eventually 5G signals, the satellites would come equipped with massive antennas up to 900 square meters in size. Given their planned proximity to other satellites, NASA says that’s a disaster waiting to happen.
“For the completed constellation of 243 satellites, one can expect 1,500 mitigation actions per year and perhaps 15,000 planning activities,” reads NASA’s statement. “This would equate to four maneuvers and 40 active planning activities on any given day.”
