Musk launches the "Star Chain II" program

In the northern conflict, star chains can be said to be countless and eye-catching, and rumors about star chains have become increasingly outrageous, almost reaching the point of deification.

In fact, the quality of the star chain is not high, but the trouble is that it occupies a large amount of high-quality low orbit resources. Simply put, the essence of star chains is more about "grabbing territory". During this process, Musk made money by boasting about his crazy Starchain, and the United States spared no effort in supporting Starchain to prepare for seizing more space resources.

A string of stars was blown into the sky by the wind.

Although the Star Chain is not strong, Musk must make it strong, otherwise he will not be able to attract investment and launch more satellites (the number of Star Chain satellites has already exceeded 3000).

To appear powerful, Starlink must have sufficient voice and various advanced features. For example, Musk has repeatedly promoted the communication function of Starlink, which can bring higher quality network services to the world. He also stated that Starlink can bypass 5G and directly enter 6G.

So, when it comes to applications, Starlink services have become a high cost plus "big pot meal" enjoyment. And the so-called 6G is even more elusive, landing at once. However, this does not prevent Musk from defining it as "advanced" and "high-quality".

It's starting again!

Nowadays, the long unknown star chain has begun to create monsters. Musk announced that he will collaborate with T-Mobile, the third largest operator in the United States, to launch a new generation of satellite communication services, known as Starlink 2.

Specifically, it provides smartphone users with more connectivity services through satellite connectivity, ensuring that they can use SMS or voice services in remote areas without cellular mobile networks.

Musk also stated that when people are in areas without signals and require emergency rescue, Starlink II will save their lives.

Does it sound very tall and upscale? But consumers will find it difficult to pay. Firstly, the service only has a speed of 2-4 MBits, and can only send text messages, voice messages, and so on. If you want to use it to access the internet normally, it would be too much. Secondly, most people live in cities and suburbs, and few wander in remote areas, so the application space of this service is also very limited.

If you want to experience relatively high-quality satellite communication services, it is not impossible. A monthly set of $99 and $549 (including a large pot) is sufficient.

Since Starlink II has some flaws, why would Musk still have to fight such a big battle? In fact, the original goal is still to maintain the halo of the "star chain" and continuously raise funds to occupy more low orbit orbit resources.

The prospects of satellite communication are immeasurable.

Although satellite communication is currently limited to emergency rescue and other applications in remote areas, with the growth of technology, the scope of use of satellite communication functions is constantly expanding. Including what we are referring to as the next 6G air vent, it is likely that satellite communication support will also be needed.

When ordinary people can also enjoy the benefits of satellite communication, it is when it truly shines and has the highest market value.

Musk's star chain is different from traditional competitive models. Looking at it alone, its technological content and performance are weaker than those of high-quality satellites, but the competitive mode is not one-on-one, but rather a combination.

According to the plan, Starlink will ultimately launch 42000 satellites to complete network construction. But the entire low orbit orbit resources are only enough to accommodate 60000 satellites. If the Starlink program is successful, the United States will be able to occupy more than two-thirds of its orbital resources.

NASA is the mastermind behind Starlink, and it can also be military. You can imagine how high this limit is. This is likely a pig eating a tiger and gradually developing into a tiger routine. Moreover, SpaceX's technology is not weak, Starlink satellites are average, but rocket launch technology is real.

We need to be careful.

Seizing low orbit satellite resources and developing our own satellite communication are issues that we must pay attention to at present. Imagine that once satellite communication becomes mainstream and widely used in daily life, we do not have our own set of satellite communication solutions.

Use beautiful products and beautiful satellite communication. How to ensure safety.

Europe has already felt the crisis. In February this year, Macron stated that Europe needs its own satellite communication network. In fact, even earlier, Europe planned to establish space traffic regulations to restrict the flight of satellite networks.

At present, we have the function of emergency satellite communication in unmanned areas, which is Beidou's short message communication. This function will be installed on the Huawei Mate 50, leading Starlink and our old rival Apple.

But after all, Beidou is more inclined towards navigation, not traditional communication satellites. At present, a domestic enterprise with the code name "GW" has developed GW-A59 and GW2 plans, with an expected launch of approximately 13000 satellites. Moreover, the experimental satellites for this plan have been launched, and the next step is to slowly launch the satellite network.

Perhaps some people are very anxious. Starlink is so long, we have just started, isn't it too late?

Don't worry, although the star chain started very early, it has only launched 3000 so far, which is still far from 40000. Moreover, the networking of Internet satellites in low Earth orbit does not mean that you want to do it, which requires you to have very strong aerospace capabilities and technical reserves, such as the most basic, rocket recycling.

You can't even recycle rockets, how can you launch thousands of satellites? Do you think rockets are cabbage. So the threshold is very high, and the problem is not just with satellites, there are many other aspects that need to be prepared for. And we won't do anything unreliable like Musk.

Musk's idea is that I will strive to push upwards and adopt orbital resources. Whether it's falling behind and falling behind, or poor quality, it's best to make up for it and launch it again. In short, snatching the website first is essentially a rogue behavior. We are not hooligans, and we have plenty of low rail resources, so naturally there is no need to worry so much.

Believe in professionals, believe in scientists. With space stations and low orbit Internet satellites, we will also have them!

Extended Reading

Want to cover every corner of the world? Is Star Chain II a threat to us?

Imagine a traveler getting lost in a deserted area with no signal base stations around, but he can take out his phone, go online, and call for help.

This is the application scenario envisioned by Musk for the Starlink II program to be launched next year.

If Star Chain plans to cooperate with mobile phone operators and "space Internet" comes into reality, will it bring about an Internet revolution? Sure enough, this year, the Star Chain project, which has a strong sense of existence through the Russia-Ukraine conflict, attracted people's attention again.

Is it to completely subvert and rewrite the existing Internet governance rules, or is it another marketing hype puzzle that the founders are accustomed to?

Does Musk want to be preemptive, preemptive, and help the United States take the first step in the "space race"? But in this field, many countries are working hand in hand to overtake on curves.

It can be certain that space will become a new high ground for international strategic competition in the next step.

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Two days ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced a new partnership plan.

His company SpaceX will launch Starlink II next year, partnering with American mobile operator T-Mobile to provide connectivity services for users, covering remote areas in the United States that currently do not have wireless signals.

T-Mobile is the third largest operator in the United States and is fully promoting 5G construction.

The two companies stated that the new cooperative connection service uses T-Mobile's wireless spectrum to provide connectivity to users through Starlink satellites, and will begin providing SMS services in some areas by the end of 2023. This is a place for implementing call and data transmission services.

In other words, regardless of the presence or absence of base stations and Wi Fi, users can receive mobile signals regardless of whether they are in national parks or deep water areas.

T-Mobile CEO Sievert stated that when this service is fully launched, T-Mobile customers can receive complete mobile signals as long as they can see the sky.

However, the internet speed is a bit slow, only 2-4Mbits, which means you can only send and receive text messages and make voice calls, and cannot provide faster broadband services.

However, it is sufficient for users to "contact people in emergency situations" in areas without signals and in urgent need of help. In Musk's words, it has a mission of "saving lives".

Meanwhile, T-mobile phone company will also enable global users to connect with Starlink through reciprocal services with communication providers from other countries.

You should know that although the Internet has basically entered thousands of households and preliminarily realized people's vision of "global village", this is only for urban areas and remote areas where base stations are deployed.

There are still many remote areas in the world that are unable to access high-speed Internet services. Even in the United States, "more than 500000 square miles" will be affected by "insufficient mobile phone signal", nearly 1/7 of the land area.

Mask's Starlink provides satellite signals to user terminals on the earth by launching low orbit satellites, enabling them to connect to the Internet.

The "Star Link" satellite is a broadband satellite Internet network developed by SpaceX, a subsidiary of Musk. Its original purpose is to provide Internet access services for global users.

Since the launch of the first satellite chain in 2019, approximately 3000 satellite chain satellites have been deployed in Earth's near Earth orbit so far.

It is envisaged that the use of satellites can solve the problem of connecting the Internet to remote areas such as deserts or mountains, and avoid the construction and cost of cables, masts, base stations and other infrastructure.

But compared with traditional Internet providers, Starlink's Internet services are a little expensive.

In addition to paying a monthly internet fee of $99, customers also need to purchase a set of Starlink devices for $549.

This Starlink device includes a disc-shaped antenna required to connect satellites and routers.

When using, place the dish antenna outdoors, facing the sky. The router is placed indoors. Then, "Just turn on the power, wait a few minutes, and go online without any additional debugging."

In May this year, the speed test results of Star Link's first generation Internet service showed that the download speed was 301 Mbps, which is one of the fastest broadband services at present.

But there are two drawbacks: very low upload speed and very high latency.

Musk himself acknowledged the limitations of Star Link service. "It cannot replace the ground base station, because the ground base station will certainly be better than the Internet service of Star Link, especially the ground base stations in cities and suburbs."

However, according to Musk's vision, Starlink itself did not exist to replace ground base stations, but rather to provide basic coverage for areas that are currently completely stagnant.

Although Internet service users who can choose more stable and lower prices will not choose Star Link, Star Link still has 400000 users in 36 countries and regions, mainly in North America, Europe and Australia.

This number is not significant, but the collaboration project between the second generation Starlink and T-Mobile, which will be launched next year, may attract more users to use Starlink services, further achieving Musk's goal of "Starlink covering the world".

This year, SpaceX submitted an application to NASA to add 30000 second-generation satellites. It is expected that the total number of star chain satellites deployed in the United States will reach an astonishing 42000 in the future, forming a giant "star chain system" covering global near Earth orbit.

It is worth noting that Musk's satellite chain is not only a civilian satellite, but also has many collaborations in the military field.

In 2020, SpaceX signed a contract to manufacture satellites for the US Department of Defense, producing missile tracking satellites for the department. Earlier this year, Ukraine also provided Starlink satellite system equipment for military communication.

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Musk seems to have led a new round of technological trends in the field of communication, with the banner of eliminating "dead corners of mobile networks", but is this really the case?

Behind the "fire", there are many controversies within the Star Chain.

Since its establishment, the space use rights and pollution issues brought about by Star Chain have been widely criticized.

As the number of satellites increases, the near Earth orbit becomes more crowded and prone to crashes. Last July and October, China's space station was forced to perform emergency collision avoidance operations due to the risk of close range contact caused by the orbit change of the "Starlink" satellite.

The heinous "collision" operation of Starlink is of great significance for Chinese aircraft to carry out missions on space stations. Tian Yuan's life safety is threatened, and domestic netizens are also very angry.

Meanwhile, foreign experts have also pointed out that since 2019, the number of aircraft collision warnings triggered by Starlink has surged, with about 1600 triggers per week, accounting for half of the total. Other satellite operators are often forced to adjust satellite orbits.

Moreover, star chains can cause light pollution and radio signal interference, leading to malfunctions in astronomical observation equipment.

Even if these defects are ignored, Starlink may not be able to solve the shortcomings of global communication.

American media pointed out that even with Starlink, people who used to be unable to access the internet in remote areas still face expensive service fees and still cannot access the internet. It is estimated that only a few users can afford this cost

There are also reports that Starlink has already had a clear commercial marketing nature, with Musk's distinct personal style. This cooperation with T-Mobile should also be approached with a wait-and-see attitude and caution.

In fact, this year's great increase in the popularity of Star Chain is largely due to the "marketing" in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

On February 26, two days after the outbreak of the conflict between Russia-Ukraine conflict, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Fedorov asked Musk on Twitter to solve the current network communication problem for Ukraine. Musk responded on Twitter that Starlink has been launched in Ukraine and ground terminal devices are already on the way.

As soon as this statement was made, the news of "Musk supporting Ukraine" was hyped up. General James Dickinson, commander of the US Space Command, also praised Starlink at the Senate hearing, saying that SpaceX's ability to provide Internet services "left a deep impression" on the Space Command.

Foreign media often disclose that Star Chain played an "important role" in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and many rumors have flooded the true face of Star Chain.

In April of this year, there were false reports that Musk's star chain achievements led to Ukraine's attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet, ultimately causing the sinking of the Moscow spacecraft. As a result, Russia wanted to destroy all star chain satellites in the relevant area. Russia did not say so about this.

In fact, some analysts have pointed out that currently there are only three Starlink first generation satellites available over Ukraine, mainly used to maintain basic communication, and their speed is still relatively low. Without fiber optics, it is fast and can only send data and voice.

It can be seen that although Star Chain has military potential, it is still in its early stages and cannot provide more military applications.

Moreover, NATO's tactical communication satellite system is more professional and mature in all aspects. Ukraine can completely embrace NATO's thigh, there is no need to use low-end equipment such as Starlink.

Does this cooperation foreshadow that Starlink will monopolize global communication in the future? Musk may not be too smooth.

Europe, as a defender of technological independence, has long been vigilant about Star Chain. On December 5, 2021, European Space Agency (ESA) Director General Ashbach warned that "the Musk family alone owns half of the world's active satellites, forming a monopoly on the space economy, but regulatory agencies around the world have failed to take timely measures.".

He urged European countries to prevent Musk from encroaching on the development space of European technology companies. Starlink occupies too much satellite communication frequency and orbital space, making it difficult for European companies to compete fairly.

France, which is experiencing technological anxiety, has even launched plans to confront Musk.

In February of this year, French President Macron stated that Europe should have its own satellite communication network, "which is a matter of sovereignty and efficiency.".

In July, Eutelsat, a French communications satellite operator, and OneWeb, a British Indian international joint venture, reached a cooperation to establish a "global leader in satellite broadband Internet services".

As mentioned above, especially for remote areas lacking fiber optics, this is almost consistent with the direction of cooperation between Starlink and T-Mobile.

However, some French media analysts say that the likelihood of this plan's success is very low. The EU needs complete control over satellite systems, but "One Web" satellite companies are partially owned by British companies that have left the EU and do not meet information security requirements.

But even if the cooperation is not successful, OneWeb, as a global satellite communication company, has strong competitiveness. The first generation constellation plan, which is expected to be completed this year, has a total of 648 satellites.

Amazon's Project Kuiper is also a strong competitor to Starlink. Its announced launch plan includes as many as 83 launches and will use rockets from several companies to launch more than 3200 Internet satellites.

It remains to be seen whether Starlink can go further in the future of communication development.

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In any case, it must be recognized that satellite Internet is an important field for human beings to explore and use space.

Prior to this, human exploration of space mainly focused on scientific research, military, and commercial applications in special fields.

Satellite Internet is to provide commercial services for the public, so that more people can feel the achievements of human space exploration, whether it is communication technology or remote sensing images.

If the "Star Chain II" can be commercialized on a large scale, it is bound to bring about an overall subversion and reshaping of the existing Internet infrastructure, rewrite the existing Internet governance rules, and bring global political and security implications. impressive.

The biggest challenge among them is the destructive impact on the network sovereignty of various countries. If mobile phones and satellites can be directly connected, it is equivalent to bypassing the information infrastructure on the ground and realizing the global public domain of cyberspace.

At the same time, users' behaviors and activities on the Internet will also be separated from the supervision of governments, resulting in the hollowness of network sovereignty. The impact on the politics and security of various countries will be comprehensive.

In addition, in addition to the commercial activities of Starlink, the US military is also testing the connection between military aircraft and Starlink, which means that the US private commercial space constellation system may support related military activities in the future. Gender. And once the closed-loop results of technical testing are obtained, this kind of battle situation should be vigilant.

Therefore, although Star Chain II will not be smooth, it is worth paying attention to the development trend of satellite Internet through commerce, because once this road is successful, it will bring huge imagination space.

At present, in addition to Star Chain, China, the United Kingdom, the European Union and others have increased their investment in space Internet, and all countries have paid attention to this field at the strategic level.

In addition to SpaceX in the United States, Amazon also launched the Kuiper project, Samsung in South Korea also launched the deployment of space Internet, and OneWeb in the United Kingdom also launched the OneWeb space project.

China has always been a pioneer in exploring space and developing satellite Internet. In fact, many domestic institutions have launched multiple low orbit satellites and achieved experimental networking.

For example, the "Hongyan" global satellite constellation communication system launched by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation was successfully launched on December 29, 2018, with the first experimental satellite of the "Hongyan" constellation, "Chongqing". On March 5, 2022, the "Beijing Youhe Galaxy" satellite was successfully launched, proving that China has the capability of low-cost, batch development and networking operation of satellites required for the construction of satellite Internet superstar constellations.

At the same time, the deployment of 5G and 6G networks in China is also progressing in an orderly manner. At present, China has taken the lead in 5G network, with nearly 1 million 5G base stations deployed on the ground, and the test of 6G satellite Internet is also in progress.

As is well known, the orbital resources of Earth satellites are limited and non renewable. According to the regulations of the International Telecommunication Union, the satellite frequency and orbit usage rights are based on the principle of "first in, first out". According to statistics, the number of satellites that a low orbit can accommodate is 60000.

Therefore, in this mode, whoever can launch more low orbit communication satellites earlier and faster will have an advantage in the fierce space competition.

In the future, aerospace will become a new high ground for international strategic competition.