What is Musk's star chain plan?

What is Musk's star chain plan? As more and more satellites are launched by Musk, the network speed of the Star Link project is getting faster and faster, even much faster than the traditional broadband network speed in some countries. What is Musk's star chain plan?

What is Musk's star chain plan? 1 As a world-famous "master of success", Musk dares to say that he is the second, while Ma in China dares not say that he is the first. At present, relying on the stunt of leading human beings to immigrate to Mars, it has attracted the attention of the whole world and attracted a lot of investment. Swearing that human beings will be able to raise the next generation on Mars, scientists who study the universe don't understand. The migration to Mars hasn't happened yet, and now the Star Chain project will compete with traditional communication companies.

The speed of satellite link is already ultra-wideband. Should we be worried? It is reported that with more and more satellites launched by Musk, the network speed of the satellite link plan is getting faster and faster, even much faster than the traditional broadband network speed in some countries. Many media have begun to advocate that the satellite link plan will ban traditional broadband networks, and some netizens who don't know the truth seem to be very eager to use satellite networks. But in fact, it is almost impossible to realize the same network service as broadband by using satellites planned by star chain.

Countries like China, which often use Gigabit networks to access their homes, don't need this irrelevant satellite network. Moreover, the monthly rent for the network service of Star Chain Project is 99 USD, and the total RMB is around 600 yuan, which is 7,200 RMB a year. The annual online fee in China is 7,200 yuan, not to say "serialization". Fortunately, Musk once said that the satellite network of the Star Chain Project mainly serves no man's land, deserts, mountainous areas and some remote rural areas.

Why not use it on a large scale in cities? Because there is no market in big cities. Now no matter which city is a tall building, only the top of each building can be used to put things. If you use a satellite network, you must install a pot, and you need an antenna and a router for wireless network conversion. Antenna and router are easier said than done. Where can this pot be installed? In our country, there are at least dozens of families living in a building, so it is definitely not enough to put it on the balcony. And whether the property agrees to install it is still one thing, and it is difficult to hang it on the balcony. I don't think there are enough pots for receiving satellite signals on the roofs of western countries. It is difficult to solve the problem of only one pot, unless it is in the countryside, such a pot can be installed at will.

Another point is that even if the pot is installed, the reliability of the network may not be guaranteed, because the received satellite signal comes from more than 500 kilometers of space and will be weak when it reaches the earth. A little obstacle will affect the use of the network, and it can't be guaranteed to be an all-weather real-time transmission network. In case of extreme weather, whether the network transmission can be guaranteed, first consider whether the pot installed outdoors can be guaranteed.

One more thing, normal people can't stand it. After our mobile phone is equipped with a mobile phone card, we have a mobile network, which can be used at any time. But satellite communication is not good. It must have network conversion and forwarding equipment. This equipment must be plugged in before it can be used, which means that the satellite network can only be used in fixed places with electricity. Even if you want to run around the world with a converter, you need electricity. Even if the power problem is solved, there must be supporting facilities on the ground to use the satellite network. If you go to a place without such supporting facilities, there is still no network to use.

One of the most critical problems is the satellite link plan, which cannot realize any global communication. 20 15 put forward the satellite link plan. At that time, it was planned to launch 4,000 satellites around 2020, but so far less than 1000 satellites have been launched. Later, Musk put forward new requirements, and it is expected to launch 1.2 million satellites in 2025. A satellite covers an area of about 800,000 square kilometers. In China, to meet the demand of high-speed Internet access of 800,000 square kilometers, at least tens of thousands of base stations have to be installed, which is a bit scary.

Moreover, in China, if we want to realize the normal use of the 5G network, we need to install nearly one million 5G base stations. If the satellite chain almost serves the global network, it needs at least tens of millions of satellites. If Musk can really launch tens of millions of satellites into the sky, astronomers will not agree. Just launching1.2000 satellites into the sky was protested by astronomers several times, and the launching height had to be reduced, which meant that the coverage area was smaller.

In addition, launching a large number of satellites into space to make money for yourself, like Musk, is actually a very selfish behavior. He didn't make any contribution to science and technology at all, but he occupied the orbit that was really applied to science and navigation satellites. Moreover, it has caused great obstacles to observing space from the earth, and in serious cases it will block the targets that scientists want to observe. Moreover, the life of Musk's satellite is only five years, which means that a batch of space junk will be added in space every five years, and when a large amount of space junk can't remove humans, the danger comes. Will we be locked on the earth then? A large amount of garbage in space also brings some uncertainty to our seat belts. What if the garbage suddenly gets out of control? It's okay in no man's land, but once it appears in a densely populated city, it's a disaster. Therefore, the so-called star chain plan is nothing more than Musk's selfish plan to circle money.

What is Musk's star chain plan? At the 202 1 code conference held this week, Kara Swisher, known as "the most influential science and technology reporter in Silicon Valley", and Elon Musk, the founder of Space Exploration Technology Company, had a long 1 hour discussion on a series of topics.

In the interview, Carla swisher briefly introduced the Starlink satellite Internet department of Space Exploration Technology Company, which aims to provide satellite Internet services to the whole world. This huge group of Internet satellites may consist of as many as 30,000 Internet transmission satellites, which will be able to provide high-speed Internet for all parts of the world, especially the most remote areas and countries on earth.

As we all know, the "Star Chain" plan of Space Exploration Technology Company has been criticized by astronomical groups, who claim that these satellites may interfere with their astronomical observations. At present, the company has launched nearly 1800 satellites into orbit, most of which are in low-earth orbit at a height of 550 kilometers.

In order to reach this operating altitude, these satellite chains need to be moved upward using krypton ion thrusters. When they fly from a lower altitude to a higher altitude, these satellites can be observed by people on earth at night with the naked eye, which will also have a certain impact on astronomical observation.

In order to make it difficult for the satellite to reflect the light on the ground in the ascending orbit, Space Exploration Technology Company added an expandable "sun visor" on the satellite to block the reflection of the sun's light. When the satellite enters the orbit, it covers the part where the satellite reflects the most light. Musk has previously said that the "sun visor" is "made of a special black foam material, which is extremely transparent and will not affect the signal transmission of phased array antennas" and "looks like the hood of a car".

Carla swisher suggested that satellite constellations in star chains may interfere with astronomical observation, and she mentioned that star chains "drive astronomers crazy".

Musk told swisher: "Out of respect for astronomers, we have been talking to the world's leading astronomers ... to ensure that our satellites will not interfere with their telescopes."

He said that the company is taking necessary measures to ensure that satellites will not cause too much interference to ground observatories, "including the most sensitive telescopes." He added: "Maybe some amateur astronomers are unhappy, but professional astronomers are satisfied that we are taking reasonable measures to ensure that we have not hindered scientific research."

Musk also said at the meeting: "We are also considering using starship to launch some new astronomical telescopes, because our Starship is a larger vehicle, and we can launch a telescope with a resolution of Hubble (Space Telescope) 10 times, which will be of great benefit to science."

He also shared that he had a talk with astronomer saul perlmutter of the University of California, Berkeley about a space telescope project, which will use starships to carry astronomical research instruments. Musk said: "I think in the end, starships and space exploration technology companies can do a lot to promote our understanding of astrophysics and astronomy.