Re:Musk shakes up SpaceX in race to make satellite launch wi...
by gaius on Thursday November 01, 2018 @04:37AM
(#18352159)
being able to operate a 1.2 to 1.8m size small VSAT in Xinjiang province
Right; I think people are visualising this like a sort of Thuraya iPhone, which it very much will not be, because physics.
I mean Thuraya is amazing if you in the middle of the ocean, but no one under 40 has ever used a modem at that speed before...
Re:Musk shakes up SpaceX in race to make satellite launch wi...
by walrus01 on Thursday November 01, 2018 @04:49AM
(#18352198)
If they are successful with some sort of most-flat-panel phased array that can talk to two or three satellites simultaneously, I don't think it will be quite as obvious on a roof as a 1.2m cheap small VSAT... But it will still need to be big enough to have sufficient gain for a real link budget, and CNR ratios for complex modulations.
And its EIRP to Tx to a satellite >300km away at bitrates of 0.5 Mbps or better will be easy to find with portable spectrum analyzers hooked up to directional horn antennas.
there are already a number of countries in the world where men with guns will come and take your rooftop equipment if you try to operate an unauthorized two-way, small satellite link to the outside world. Uzbekistan for example, go take a small cheap 1.2 meter ku band VSAT terminal there, and operate it...
China is also a perfect example. I could totally go out right now and spend monthly recurring transponder kHz lease money to get a small to medium amount of two way capacity on Russian geostationary satellites that have ku band spot beams covering parts of China, and set up a two way link to a teleport in Germany.
But I give the chances of being able to operate a 1.2 to 1.8m size small VSAT in Xinjiang province for more than a week or two, very low odds. Whoever does this is going to end up in a prison or reeducation camp.