May 1, 2021

How Starlink, Project Kuiper and other satellite broadband providers could change society - GeekWire

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Imagine a world where high-speed internet blankets every corner of the globe, transforming the way people access health care, education and entertainment. That’s the promise of up-and-coming satellite broadband — an ambitious and controversial plan to connect far reaches of the planet.

Related: How commercial space stations could become the final frontier for data and cybersecurity

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and SpaceX founder Elon Musk are attacking the opportunity with vigor and billions of dollars, hoping they can solve an elusive problem of getting Internet connectivity to the masses no matter where they live.

But the concept is not new. In fact, some of the original seeds were planted in the Pacific Northwest decades ago when billionaires Bill Gates, Craig McCaw, Boeing and others bankrolled the ill-fated Teledesic which also promised a constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites.

In our latest episode of 2025: Tomorrow, Today , we take a close look at the promise and peril of the new satellite broadband constellations like Starlink, OneWeb and Amazon’s Project Kuiper. We talk to experts in the field to discuss the technical challenges of satellite broadband, the potential societal benefits and who’ll regulate space.

 

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