Bandwith Problems Solved by Space

A small spacecraft system manufacturer has announced that they plan to put 78 small satellites into orbit to carry the internet.

Microsat Systems Canada Inc (MSCI) have called the project "CommStellation", and plan to deploy the system from 2014-2015. It will require six rockets to take the platforms to an altitude of 1,000km.  From there, the network will act as backhaul, linking the traffic of local telecoms and internet service providers to the global fibre infrastructure.

It seems that there is a new wave of manufacturers recognising the fact that space may offer a simple solution to the bandwith problem facing the world. 

David Cooper, President and CEO of MSCI, said that “There are immense backhaul shortages now and it's going to get worse”

CommStellation is planning something very similar to O3b, which is planning a constellation of eight internet backhaul satellites in a medium-Earth orbit (8,000km) around the equator. This system is also expected to start to roll out in the middle of the decade.  However, CommStellation would be very much lower in the sky than O3b and would circle the Earth via the poles.

Read more on O3b:

http://adodolive.blogspot.com/2010/11/broadband-satellite-launches-in-5432.html

http://adodolive.blogspot.com/2010/11/satellite-broadband-update_30.html

Satellite Broadband UPDATE

According to Avanti Communications, the Ariane 5 rocket, carrying HYLAS 1, entered orbit precisely on schedule after a “perfect” launch at 18:39 GMT on 26^th November 2010.  The HYLAS spacecraft is designed to deliver dedicated broadband services to remote locations where it is currently not possible to get a fast internet connection. 

A signal from the satellite was picked up almost right away at an antenna sited in India. Controllers will now spend a few weeks positioning the spacecraft correctly in the sky and checking out onboard systems.  HYLAS 1 is the first superfast broadband satellite launched in Europe, Avanti’s second satellite is fully funded and will launch in 2012.

Following Avanti’s success on Friday, it seems that there is now a race to space as it was announced on Monday morning that the financing has been secured for one of the most ambitious commercial space projects of the decade.


O3b Networks, based in Jersey, has raised $1.2bn (£700m) for a series of satellites to support super-fast broadband connections to Africa and other emerging markets.  The spacecraft will act as backhaul, linking the traffic of local telecoms and internet service providers to the global fibre infrastructure.  The first platforms will be ready to go into orbit in the first half of 2013.

Broadband Satellite Launches in 5,4,3,2...

The EC has set a target of giving every European citizen access to 30Mbps broadband or more by 2020, and now they are sending a satellite into space to help.

The Hylas spacecraft will be dedicated to delivering broadband services to remote locations such as rural villages where it is currently not possible to get a fast internet connection.

The satellite will be carried into orbit on an Ariane 5 rocket and is expected to lift off from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana at 1539 local time (1839 GMT).

Hylas (or the slightly catchier Highly Adaptable Satellite) is a commercial venture driven by start-up Avanti Communications of London.  The UK government put £40m into the Hylas development programme, in the hope that it will assist them in reaching their target of everyone in Britain having 2Mbps by 2015.

All being well, the 2.6-tonne spacecraft will operate in the Ka radio band and deliver broadband services to some 350,000 subscribers across Europe.