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Satellite Company Partners With Jeff Bezos' AWS To Bring Internet To 'Whole Planet' (cnbc.com)
Iridium Communications is partnering with Amazon Web Services to develop a satellite-based network called CloudConnect for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. "We're really covering the whole planet [...] with terrestrial networks today it's still only 10 percent or 20 percent" of the Earth, Iridium CEO Matt Desch told CNBC. "Everybody today can connect pretty easily with very little effort. Now that Amazon has put our language into the cloud platform, they can extend their applications to the satellite realm." From the report: CloudConnect, which the company expects to launch in 2019, makes Iridium "the first, and only, satellite provider now connected to" Amazon Web Services, Desch said. The CloudConnect network will focus on "where cellular technologies aren't," Desch said, bringing the rest of the world within reach of AWS. The company is nearly finished putting its Iridium NEXT constellation of 75 satellites into orbit. SpaceX is launching the $3 billion satellite network for Iridium, with the eighth and final launch happening later this year.
Once online, Iridium NEXT will offer services such as higher broadband communications speeds and global airplane tracking. Iridium describes the IoT aspect of the network as a "catalyst for strong subscriber growth." Desch said the network hosts "about half a million" active devices, growing at a rate of about 20 percent per year for the last three years. With AWS onboard, Desch gave a very bullish estimates for his IoT services: "Easily this could expand to tens of millions of devices."
Once online, Iridium NEXT will offer services such as higher broadband communications speeds and global airplane tracking. Iridium describes the IoT aspect of the network as a "catalyst for strong subscriber growth." Desch said the network hosts "about half a million" active devices, growing at a rate of about 20 percent per year for the last three years. With AWS onboard, Desch gave a very bullish estimates for his IoT services: "Easily this could expand to tens of millions of devices."
Great, more bandwidth for my fridge. And once they run out of repositioning fuel there'll be 75 more pieces of space junk in orbit.
Actually, Iridium's NEXT constellation is for a lot more than just IoT, they are for L-band (up to 1.5 Mbit/s) and K-band (up to 8 Mbit/s) communications. These are extremely desirable and will only go out of use if they enter an uncontrolled orbit. Each satellite has a deorbitting system. "From 2017, several first-generation Iridium satellites have been deliberately de-orbited after being replaced by operational Iridium NEXT satellites"
I wonder how many 'dark satellites' there are in orbit that are technically functional yet have been abandoned because they're no longer able to maintain the desired orbit. I bet enthusiasts could do some interesting things if given access to those.
Communication satellites like this? I can answer that: Zero.
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