Mega constellations, facilitated by laser, rocket, and antenna innovations will change the economics of satellite-provided broadband. Inter-Satellite Link (ISL). This allows satellites in a constellation to link to one another using lasers. Since 2001 governments (NASA, ESA, Japan, Germany), and companies (Google, Facebook) have been testing space communications. The most recent batch of Starlink has …
Continue reading “Part 3/3 – Four tech leaps changing satellite broadband economics”
Geostationary constellations cannot provide broadband internet because of their orbit 35,000 kilometers from earth. Each one-way takes 116 milliseconds (35.000,000 m / 299 792 458 m/s = 116 ms). This route is doubled and more as the signal returns from space, then terrestrial and subsea cables to the most proximal data center. This trip length …
Continue reading “Part 2/3 – Six LEO mega-constellations changing satellite broadband”
There are still too many places and devices where broadband access is unreliable or doesn’t exist for everyday use and emergencies. LEO satellite breakthroughs will change that. I’ll explore this in a 3-part series. In the 1980s and 1990s ground cables powered BBS’s and university WANs through modems. In the 2000s and 2010s upgraded ground …
Continue reading “Part 1/3 – The promise of satellite-powered WiFi”
Her closing sentence is memorable, “An ideal city, cannot be dominated by high-rises that only serve to symbolize private surplus wealth.” Central Park Tower is 89% vacant, and casts a long shadow across Central Park that’s changed the flora and fauna.
Mark Rober suggests we focus learning on the success, and ignore failures. Like a toddler learning to walk, who doesn’t remember the falls, and only focuses on the steady progression toward walking. Since I’m a mountain climber, his diagram reminds me about the camps we establish on mountains. The concept is the same. Mark did …
Joseph Ducreux was a French painter active in the late 1700’s who should be remembered for self-portraits that were surprisingly informal for the age.
Excellent and fun example of product design iterations meeting new product requirements.
James Bond is an MI6 British secret agent codenamed 007 portrayed in books and film. There wasn’t a reasonable skillset list for him online. So I assembled a list of James Bond skills. Turns out, 007 has many skills. A list of skills and abilities held by James Bond 007: Body language, facial and emotional …
On the moon in 1971, Commander David Scott dropped a hammer and a falcon feather to validate Galileo’s theory that without air resistance, objects fall at the same rate due to gravity regardless of mass. Given the negligible lunar atmosphere, there was no drag on the feather, both experienced the same acceleration, and both hit …
Continue reading “Dropping a falcon feather and hammer on the moon”
The Feynman Technique is the best way to learn anything quickly. Devised by a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, it uses the power of teaching for better learning. There are four steps to the Feynman Learning Technique: Pretend to teach a concept you want to learn about to a student in the sixth grade. Identify gaps in …
