You’d think that SpaceX is highly profitable and is using those profits to expand into the satellite Internet business. But actually there is debate whether SpaceX is profitable without accounting tricks, and even if it is profitable, the margins are very thin. Reportedly the geostationary launch business is softening, and SpaceX is actually looking to Starlink for profits. No doubt it helps if you can launch your own satellites, maybe even having them ride along while you get paid to launch stuff for paying customers. But this sounds like a pretty risky venture, paid for with borrowed money. If it wasn’t risky, it wouldn’t be Elon, right?
From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> On Behalf Of Mike Hammett Sent: Sunday, June 2, 2019 12:04 PM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <af@af.afmug.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] SpaceX Says Its 60 Starlink Satellites Are All Phoning Home (and Fading Out) | Space I would suspect they are going to have hundreds of earth stations as opposed to one or two earth stations that legacy platforms have. Up to the bird, maybe across one or two birds, and back down to the fiber-fed earth stations. I've seen the numbers, but I forgot the numbers. It's real bandwidth at each one. ----- Mike Hammett <http://www.ics-il.com/> Intelligent Computing Solutions <https://www.facebook.com/ICSIL> <https://plus.google.com/+IntelligentComputingSolutionsDeKalb> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/intelligent-computing-solutions> <https://twitter.com/ICSIL> <http://www.midwest-ix.com/> Midwest Internet Exchange <https://www.facebook.com/mdwestix> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/midwest-internet-exchange> <https://twitter.com/mdwestix> <http://www.thebrotherswisp.com/> The Brothers WISP <https://www.facebook.com/thebrotherswisp> <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXSdfxQv7SpoRQYNyLwntZg> _____ From: "Tim Withrow via AF" <af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> > To: af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> Cc: "Tim Withrow" <timwith...@aol.com <mailto:timwith...@aol.com> > Sent: Saturday, June 1, 2019 4:43:01 PM Subject: Re: [AFMUG] SpaceX Says Its 60 Starlink Satellites Are All Phoning Home (and Fading Out) | Space What kind of bandwidth capacity could each satellite have at any given point? What is the usable bandwidth of their system? Who makes a radio that big to carry/transmit such capacity or is it an aggregate of small radio's? _____ On Saturday, June 1, 2019 Bill Prince <af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> > wrote: Naturally, we're all thinking about what effect this will have in rural America, but I am also wondering if this would have some effect on China's "great firewall"? bp <part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com> On 6/1/2019 1:47 PM, Ken Hohhof wrote: I think one factor advocacy groups and govt critters need to keep in mind is that instead of robust competition, what could occur is “disruptive” pricing, having the effect of discouraging or bankrupting the competition. And now some new entrant is the only game in town. And if it turns out to be unreliable, or not to have enough capacity, or their speeds are actually best effort, or their satellites start dropping out of the sky, or whatever, people can’t switch back to their old provider. Like being dissatisfied with online stores and assuming you can always switch back to the old brick and mortar store, from Uber and Lyft back to taxis and limos. Sorry, they don’t exist anymore. This is unlikely to happen in big cities, I doubt Comcast will go bankrupt because of Starlink. But to just assume there will be lots of choices out in the middle of nowhere driving the price down without any of them turning off the lights, seems a little naïve. And to assume big megacorps like SpaceX, Amazon, Googe, Facebook, etc. would never price below cost to be “disruptive” also seems naïve. From: AF <mailto:af-boun...@af.afmug.com> <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> On Behalf Of Bill Prince Sent: Saturday, June 1, 2019 3:20 PM To: af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] SpaceX Says Its 60 Starlink Satellites Are All Phoning Home (and Fading Out) | Space Sure. But after the clouds, geostationary still needs to go another 23,000 miles. LEO only has to go a few hundred. bp <part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com> On 6/1/2019 10:47 AM, Mathew Howard wrote: Clouds are generally a lot lower than a couple hundred miles... On Sat, Jun 1, 2019, 10:58 AM Bill Prince <part15...@gmail.com <mailto:part15...@gmail.com> > wrote: Maybe at geostationary distances, but these are only a few hundred miles up. bp <part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com> On 6/1/2019 8:56 AM, Matt Hoppes wrote: > Don't those bands have significant attenuation issues with like... > clouds? > > On 6/1/19 10:55 AM, Bill Prince wrote: >> According to Wikipedia, they will be on Ku, Ka, and V bands. >> >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_(satellite_constellation) >> >> bp >> <part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com> >> >> On 6/1/2019 7:46 AM, Jaime Solorza wrote: >>> Wonder what frequencies they will use? >>> >>> https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-satellites-phone-home-dimming.html >>> >>> >> -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
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