FCC Approves Amazon's Internet-from-Space Kuiper Constellation of 3,236 Satellites:
The Federal Communications Commission has approved Amazon's plans for its ambitious Kuiper constellation, which entails sending 3,236 satellites into orbit to beam internet coverage down to Earth. The decision is a crucial regulatory step that paves the way for Amazon to start launching the satellites when they're ready.
The company plans to send the satellites to three different altitudes, and it claims it needs just 578 satellites in orbit to begin service, according to an FCC document announcing the approval. Amazon said it will invest "more than $10 billion" in Project Kuiper in a blog post.
Amazon has not announced which launch provider it plans to use to fly the satellites into orbit yet. While Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also owns the rocket company Blue Origin, the launch provider will have to compete to launch the satellites along with other companies.
Ars Technica adds some details in its story Amazon investing $10 billion to compete against SpaceX in satellite broadband:
The FCC approval said Amazon's plan would "provid[e] continuous coverage to customers within approximately 56°N and 56°S latitude, thereby serving the contiguous United States, Hawaii, US territories, and other world regions." The plan calls for using frequencies of 17.7-18.6 GHz and 18.8-20.2 GHz for space-to-Earth communications, and 27.5-30.0 GHz for Earth-to-space transmissions. The FCC said it granted the license because it "would advance the public interest by authorizing a system designed to increase the availability of high-speed broadband service to consumers, government, and businesses."
Amazon filed the FCC application in July 2019—more details on Amazon's plan are available in our story on the application.
The FCC approval includes requirements for minimizing orbital debris and collision risk, prevention of harmful interference, spectrum sharing, and power limits. Amazon's design of the Kuiper satellites is not complete, so the company will need another FCC approval after it submits a final plan for orbital-debris mitigation, collision risk, and "re-entry casualty risk." The FCC approval is also conditioned on Amazon getting a "favorable" rating from the International Telecommunication Union to show compliance with power limits.
Also at cnet.
We previously reported SpaceX was 'Fixing' Brightness from Satellites. There is no mention of astronomical impact requirements for Kuiper satellites.
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Source: Musk says SpaceX is 'fixing' brightness from satellites:
Stargazers around the world and including many Britons have witnessed unusual constellations made up of the low earth orbit spacecraft.
SpaceX has been launching large batches of satellites as part of its Starlink project to improve global internet coverage.
The most recent launch took place on Wednesday.
Responding to a question about the brightness of the Starlink satellites on Twitter, Mr Musk said it was due to the angle of the satellites solar panels and the company was "fixing it now".
A fix could make them less visible from Earth.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2020, @01:22PM (4 children)
On the theoretical maximum number of satellites that can safely orbit?
Still less than the number of planes in the sky, so far
https://www.quora.com/How-many-airplanes-fly-each-day-in-the-world [quora.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday August 02 2020, @01:33PM
https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/56641/what-is-the-limit-to-how-many-satellites-can-orbit-the-earth [stackexchange.com]
There is some absurd theoretical upper limit that you could come up with.
In practice, the number should still be very high. There's about 5,000 in orbit right now with about half being operational. I think we'll see that number rise to 100,000 to 1 million as competing satellite broadband networks are launched, alongside other small satellites. The infrastructure for tracking and avoiding collisions may need to be upgraded.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2020, @03:57PM (1 child)
What I really want to know is if these satellites cause the same problems for astronomers as the musky ones.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday August 02 2020, @04:17PM
Let's say the SpaceX "sun visors" are effective at reducing Starlink satellite brightness. Will Amazon, OneWeb/UK, China, Russia, etc. adopt similar designs?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2020, @04:49PM
It's mostly limited by our ability to track them and prevent them from colliding. It's a pretty big number, but until we have efficient methods of cleaning out debris and satellites that can't be deorbited, it's a finite and decreasing resource. In addition to parking satellites in orbit, this is also an area where future space exploration missions will have to cross. Meaning, that we'll have to leave enough space to launch through and past for missions to other planetary bodies.
At this stage, we're not likely to run out any time soon, but it could happen and more quickly than we think if countries decide that it would be fun to start blowing up satellites rather than causing them to deorbit and burn up in the atmosphere.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Sunday August 02 2020, @02:35PM (4 children)
I think the tradeoff for wired vs wired internet is one of those points at which humanity is having a mania at the moment, full on Tulip bubble like people planting flowers when they should be planting potatoes.
I dont want to live in this much emf radiation, and with some private company that has 500 transmitters pointed at me at all time.
If I set up 10 towers around your house and told you that the max power of each was x, and that the max allowable legally and medically was y, and x was lower than y, you would sleep well.
But you shouldnt. I could arrange constructive interference on you, that only presented with a max amplitude on your location. Or a specific freqeuency that has a special effect like deactivating a certain type of cell, or making you feel a tingle, or yeah even hearing a voice. This tech exists.
You are trusting a guy that took the most obvious idea in the world, abused the internet, and every competitor, ruined the internet, abuses all of his employees, made a 600 mil contract with the actual CIA(prob more by now), AND cheated on his wife, plus the CIA, to not abuse this technology and "follow the rules."
Your trust is far more insane than my fear at this point, you are just so used to propaganda and running with the herd that you cant see the referee of science and reason has been so gamed that your equilibrium is fried.
And the reason that is not like all the others? Consider the sci fi universe of cowboy bepop where most people in the solar system live on other planets because there is too much space junk, and the planet is nigh uninhabitable because it is constantly randomly falling all over the place.
So yeah this is more bad news for a future dystopia that people are cheering on, solving problems that no one has except CEO's climbing mount everest who can peacefully sleep in their giant faraday cage at home while the rest of us cows fry our brains in their adolescent laboratory experiment.
So what if you get the most awesome implant or virtual reality life if it can be hacked into from anywhere, it is just going to be another form of slavery, tyranny and push-button death at the fingers of your shadowy ruling class.
Do not say I didnt warn you, but its not like even if you recognized I had, that you would see the value in my work because it wasnt approved by the same people.
You lemmings, enjoy the cliff. Just wish you would stop dragging me along with you against my will.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2020, @03:19PM
>> You are trusting a guy that took the most obvious idea in the world, abused the internet, and every competitor, ruined the internet, abuses all of his employees,
What's Bill Gates got to do with this? I thought he was the coronavirus guy.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2020, @04:01PM
Don't ever leave your mom's basement. There's a fusion reactor in the sky that leaks so much EMF it glows and can even give you skin cancer.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2020, @04:53PM (1 child)
There is a bit of mania here. It seems rather silly to set up 5G when 4G is still more than sufficient. Most people on cellular devices are capped and those that aren't don't need that much data. In most cases, you'd be better off with wires up to the last few yards. In general, the manufacturers are going for faster and larger ranges, but in practice, that isn't really useful other than as a marketing thing. I live in a multifamily building and with 18 units and most of the units having a wireless device, it would be far more useful to have a technology that could cover just one unit and relatively little else. A range of 50' would be more than sufficient, provided it was actually 50' with a quick drop off near the outer reaches. As it stands, when I do a scan for wireless devices, I see at least a dozen, which means that there's at least 4 WAPs covering every non-overlapping frequency range.
(Score: 2) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Tuesday August 04 2020, @05:35PM
thank you, it is nice when someone says anything in response to what I am saying that isnt just an insult.
I knew there were others out there who sees it the way I do.
You might like some of my other work, dont be shy about reading it. Best I can tell the publishing industry is only publishing a certain type of person so there are bound to be a lot of very capable thinkers out there who are not being heard. As well as anons who are scared shitless to encounter what I encounter for speaking up.
good day sir, dont be a stranger
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Frosty Piss on Sunday August 02 2020, @06:21PM
Really this discussion is completely irrelevant to reality as it applies to Amazon. Like Blue Origin, this is a rich man’s vanity project (toy). Other than Amazon the Consumer Huckster Platform, most of Bezo’s “projects” have been as successful as Trump University, it’s just that Bezo can afford to flush that kind of money and not even notice. As to Blue Origin, like with Branson’s space toy, when the business is built around sending rich guys into low earth orbit to drink champagne, you know it’s a toy. As any rich guy who is serious about going into space knows, the Russians will do it right now today for around 100 million.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2020, @08:53PM (2 children)
Too slow, too expensive
Here is your answer!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2020, @11:16PM (1 child)
If Bezos pulls this off, AT&T is in big trouble.
From what I have seen, no one but the US Government wants to do business with them.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday August 03 2020, @06:44AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves