Page 24 - AT

A24 technology
Tuesday 24 sepTember 2019
Can a new space race connect the world to the internet?

By TALI ARBEL constellation of mini-satel-
AP Technology Writer lites. Bezos predicted that
NEW YORK (AP) — It's a 21st Amazon's satellite-internet
century space race: Ama- arm will cost "multiple bil-
zon, SpaceX and others lions of dollars" to build.
are competing to get into Making sure that people
orbit and provide internet have access to internet
to the earth's most remote is just one step to getting
places. them online, however. Peo-
And like the last century's ple also need to be able to
battle for space suprem- afford internet, and those
acy that was triggered by in rural areas are more likely
the Soviet Union's launch of to be poor.
Sputnik 1, this one involves It's not clear what the pric-
satellites. Thousands of ing will be but high costs
them. swamped satellite phone
More than a dozen com- service two decades ago.
panies have asked U.S. reg- It could do so again with
ulators for permission to op- In this May 23, 2019, file photo, a Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket, with a payload of 60 satellites for internet.
erate constellations of sat- SpaceX's Starlink broadband network, lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Florida's Cape "If you would have to pay
ellites that provide internet Canaveral Air Force Station, seen from Cocoa Beach, Fla. 20% or more of your in-
service. Not all are aimed Associated Press come to go on the inter-
at connecting consumers, gaming that need instant a viable mass service un- it's too expensive. A Feder- net, in a situation where
but some have grand and responses would work bet- less the cost of this type al Communications Com- you make a few dollars per
global ambitions. ter. And they have some of equipment drops, said mission official in 2017 esti- day, you don't, because it's
"The goal here is broad- heavyweight backers. In Caleb Williams, economic mated that extending fiber too expensive," said Martin
band everywhere," Ama- addition to Amazon and analyst at aerospace engi- to the roughly 20 million U.S. Schaaper, an analyst at the
zon founder Jeff Bezos said SpaceX — the company neering company Space- homes and businesses that United Nations' information
at a conference in June. of eccentric billionaire and Works Enterprises. lacked broadband would and communications tech-
With half the world's popu- Tesla founder Elon Musk Launches have already cost $80 billion. And in de- nology agency.
lation — more than 3 billion — the race has also been been pushed back: One- veloping countries, where Then there are concerns
people — not using the in- joined by OneWeb, which Web had once said it the underlying infrastruc- about the growth of space
ternet , it's a huge poten- is backed by investors in- would be operating in ture is worse, internet is pri- junk, or "orbital debris,"
tial market. And there's cluding Virgin founder Alaska this year. But service marily available through a which could crash into
the obvious benefit on the Richard Branson, U.S. chip- is now expected to start in cellphone. each other and even po-
ground: Not having inter- maker Qualcomm and late 2020. The new satellite compa- tentially set off a chain
net access makes it diffi- Japanese tech conglom- The logistics of becoming nies may have an infra- reaction of collisions that
cult or impossible to apply erate SoftBank. an internet service pro- structure alternative that's make orbit "no longer us-
for many jobs, for kids to do But the industry is still in its vider also aren't easy. The cheaper for companies able," according to NASA.
homework, for people in re- infancy, and at least three new crop of space-internet to build than wires on the SpaceX, for one, says it's
mote areas to get medical years away from wide- companies are more likely ground. A telecom com- trying to avoid adding to
care, and to participate in spread commercial ser- to set up arrangements pany needs to pay to build the junk layer by moving
the global economy. vice, said Kerri Cahoy, pro- with existing telecom com- out to a handful of custom- satellites to avoid crashes
But this new wave of fessor of aeronautics and panies than try to sell in- ers in a large area, with and designing them to
spaced-based internet astronautics at MIT, and ternet service directly, Wil- huge per-customer costs. burn up in atmosphere
faces hurdles. It is expen- even further from making liams said, because it's eas- With satellite, costs can be when they're used up. The
sive to launch, technologi- any money. ier than setting up a sales shared out over a bigger space companies have
cally complex and could "I would be surprised if and marketing operation pool of potential custom- laid out their plans to avoid
prove too costly for the something were profitable of their own. ers all over the world. A debris with U.S. regulators,
very people it hopes to in 10 years," she said. There Those same telecom com- SpaceX executive in 2018 but critics say more needs
reach. are also competing efforts panies don't want to build predicted that it would to be done, like setting up
And then there's space at extending connectivity, in remote areas because cost $10 billion to deploy a an air traffic control system
junk. More on that in a mo- including Google with its
Satellite internet already solar-powered cell towers Google strikes back with its own game
ment.
Loon balloons, which are
exists, dominated by a made of plastic sheets that
handful of companies like float on the winds, and oth- subscription service
HughesNet and Viasat that ers working on solar-pow-
have huge, expensive sat- ered drones. NEW YORK (AP) — Google is offering a games will be added every month.
ellites sitting 22,000 miles The satellite companies new subscription service for apps and There are some key differences with Apple
(35,000 kilometers) from the need to build dishes and games on Android devices days after Ap- Arcade, however. Apple's $5-a-month ser-
earth and covering big ter- antennas that are more ple launched a similar service. vice, which launched with iOS13 on Thurs-
ritories on the ground. But complicated and costlier Google Play Pass will cost $5 a month and day, consists of games developed exclu-
the service is expensive than those for traditional give subscribers access to 350 games and sively for the service — if they are in Apple
and limited, comes with satellites that don't move. apps. It will cost $2 a month for the first Arcade they can't be in the app store.
data caps and lags, and SpaceX, for example, has year in an introductory offer. Android de- The apps in Google's service, on the other
doesn't have many users. filed for permission with U.S. vices with Android 4.4 (known as KitKat) or hand, are already available for purchase
The new satellites are small- regulators to build 1 million later will support Play Pass. in the Play store. So users can determine if
er, cheaper, and closer to "earth stations" that would Available apps range from puzzle games they'd rather shell out a few dollars to own
the earth, so theoretically help connect customers to like "Monument Valley" and strategy a game or spend about the same amount
signals travel faster and the internet. games like "Risk," to apps including Accu- to have monthly access to many games
applications like online There's no way to have Weather and Facetune. New apps and and apps.q