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China Gets on the Bandwagon To Provide Global Satellite Internet (qz.com)
Over the weekend, China launched a satellite into low-earth orbit, the first step of a plan to provide global satellite internet to people who still don't have reliable access. From a report: Nearly 3.8 billion people are unconnected to the internet, and women and rural poor are particularly affected. The satellite, called Hongyun-1, took off at China's national launching site Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Saturday (Dec. 22). Hongyun-1, or "rainbow cloud," is the first of 156 satellites of the same name developed by state-owned spacecraft maker China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC). CASIC intends to launch all the Hongyun satellites by around 2022 to form a constellation that will improve internet access in remote parts of China, and eventually in developing countries, a plan first announced in 2016. Most of the satellites will operate 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) above the earth, far lower than satellites are typically placed. The project is "moving the internet currently on the ground into the sky," said Hou Xiufeng, a spokesperson for CASIC, "It's China's first true low-orbit communication satellite... The launch will greatly boost commercial space."
Look at it this way - right now there are more than 52,000 merchant ships sailing the seas. Have we run out of space in the ocean? And then add in the fact that space is 3d, so adding in vertical stacks, the number of satellites that can be safely fit in LEO is huge. Or for harder numbers, the earth has a surface area of 510 million km^2. Figure 1 km^2 area per satellite, and 1 km between orbital levels, and LEO orbits from say 600 km to 1000 km, and you get 204 billion satellites.
Look at it this way - right now there are more than 52,000 merchant ships sailing the seas. Have we run out of space in the ocean? And then add in the fact that space is 3d, so adding in vertical stacks, the number of satellites that can be safely fit in LEO is huge.
Or for harder numbers, the earth has a surface area of 510 million km^2. Figure 1 km^2 area per satellite, and 1 km between orbital levels, and LEO orbits from say 600 km to 1000 km, and you get 204 billion satellites.
Sorry, this analysis totally misses
1) most ships and airplanes travel coordinated, non-intersecting, paths.
2) ships and airplanes also maneuver to avoid each other
3) while you have low density you also have very high sweep-rates
Neither is the case with satellites (although #1 might be possible), and we will soon see a need for such. The actual statistics on oritiabl collision with either other satellites or misc launch debris is already getting pretty grim.