The conquest in colonizing the red planet is going well
and completion is just around the corner! So today, let’s talk about what could potentially
slingshot our dreams of building our Martian empire, Starlink!
In 2016, the United Nations expressed its dissent on how certain governments around the world
are restricting internet access of people within its borders. As a response, they ratified a
non-binding resolution condemning this, stating how rights of people are protected offline should
also be as how they are protected online. From this story, it’s not difficult to predict that
we are not far from declaring having access to the internet as a fundamental human right.
Stop for a minute and just think about how amazing that is. Having access to
the internet comes as fundamental as having a shelter, or having clothes,
or having food on the table? Can you imagine being revolutions starting from anywhere in the globe,
or a group of people being sued just because internet access was severely restricted?
The Internet has definitely been elevated as probably the most important man-made creation
of the modern age. I mean, can anybody even begin to fathom what our lives would
be nowadays if the internet didn't exist? Especially with our situation that’s been
going on since the past year, everyone has been staying at home. What would
we do if we didn’t have the means to order groceries and food at the palm of our hands,
or watch our favorite shows? There might be no way that I could reach out to you guys!
Now, if you think that is some level of suffering you can only wish to your worst enemy,
I bet you would find it outrageous to know that there are still places
all over the world where the privilege of dipping into that gigantic pool called the internet
is not yet available. Over half of the total population, to be really specific.
There’s a lot of work and cost involved in laying down cables, you know. On the average,
if you’re a company aspiring to bring that good old internet to some unbaptized region somewhere
in Tibet, you need to have around 27,000 for every mile that you want to place cables on.
Now, if you’re a big telco company, and seeing how that from a business perspective
would translate to a gigantic loss, it’s easy to sympathize. And that’s not even considering the
fact that internationally, the reliance to fiber optic cable based internet is at a whopping 99%.
But we’re not giving mankind much credit if we’re going to think that this will be the end for those
areas with no access to the internet. Of course, through our ever reliant ingenuity, we have come
up with a solution to this by developing satellite internet. Does that solve the gap problem?
Well, technically, yes. But there’s a caveat to it. The satellites need to stay at 36,000
kilometers above the ground, and at that height, the information relay is going to
take a bit of time resulting in lag. If you’re a streamer or a professional e-sports athlete,
you’re going to get out of business soon if this is the type of internet you’re gonna get.
This is why beloved modern day genius and esteemed monarch of the internet, Elon Musk, through the
virtue of SpaceX, decided to step forward, wave at the gigantic crowd, and present an out of
this world solution to this problem. It’s quite literally out of this world and you will see why
later. Elon plans to fill in the gaps by launching a low-latency, high-speed, satellite internet.
But wait, haven’t we established earlier that although satellite internet
could solve the problem of the costly cables, it just would still be far
slower than fiber optic-based internet? Let’s do a bit of a mind jog, shall we?
Say for example, you need to fill a pail with water from another pail. The only tools you have
are spoons and a bowl. Now, instinctively, you would go for using the bowl, right?
Because you want to fill it up faster. But what if 20 of your friends come by, and they are all
willing to help you with your silly activity. You only have one bowl, but you’ve got lots of spoons.
So obviously, you can finish the job faster if they will each scoop and bring water to
the other pail! The smaller, seemingly less efficient item becomes the savior of the tale!
Now, that might sound like a crazy story, but that’s how Elon sort of aims to deal
with the internet problem. The plan is for Starlink to launch around 42,000 satellites
floating about casually in our orbit. If one satellite is problematic and insufficient,
why not fill in the gap with thousands more, right?
But what do you think, guys? Do you think Starlink will be the company to finally bring the world
100% connected on the internet? Or, do you think another unknown competitor will
sweep in along the line? Let us know what you think in the comments section down below!
Are you a fan of Fullmetal Alchemist? In that show, they stated something called the
Law of Equivalent Exchange, which is some sort of guiding philosophy of the characters in the show.
In that line, they believe that “In order to obtain something, you must be first willing to
give something in return.” Now, let that brew in you in a moment and apply it to our story.
Are you all hooked to Starlink’s promise of no lag internet? Are you looking forward to uninterrupted
streaming of your favorite TV shows? I understand if you are. I feel the same too! But of course,
nice things always come with a price. It’s just conservation laws.
But before we dive more into that, why don’t you let us know if you like this
episode by clicking that like button? SpaceX and Starlink are such exciting companies, right?
So, how does a network of Starlink’s internet apparatuses become a disadvantage?
Isn’t the promise of faster internet something we should all be happy about?
Well, if it isn’t that obvious yet, a swarm of satellites strategically placed several
kilometers above our heads poses our risk for our night sky observation. A single
satellite in the Starlink constellation ought to reflect light from the Sun. Now,
if just one of them does that, a mesh of them will definitely be catastrophic for our astronomers.
As of this writing, there is SpaceX has already launched over a thousand satellites for Starlink,
with plans of inching in to that 42,000 count in the years to come.
These bright objects can mess up with our understanding of the stars
as they can be easily mistaken for another object.
SpaceX attempted to address this problem by launching pitchblack versions of the
satellites named DarkSats, to effectively reduce the problematic effects of flare.
Visors were even placed just so that the glare would be reduced,
but come on. We all know that that move can only do so much. Unless they come up with a way
to somehow make the invisibility cloak from Harry Potter a reality, the problem is going to persist.
If ever there will be threats like asteroids that’s going to be on a collision course with
Earth, our capability to forecast and prepare for this catastrophe will be at a minimum.
Another problem that’s going to be a major concern is the potential for several space debris
to cover the Earth. Packing up a large number of satellites close together poses that risk,
and even with the promise of automation so that they would avoid a collision course,
there’s still a chance that this will occur. There are already reports of some
satellites that are going offline randomly being nothing but a gigantic threat.
Doesn’t sound too bad? Well, you see, in space, the number one threat is the laws of physics
themselves. One satellite colliding with another will inevitably result in a domino effect, which
at the worst case will literally create a danger zone around the planet, and space travel will
no longer be a possibility. Ironically, and also poetically, there won’t be any more Mars missions.
Okay, so we’ve been going on and on about Starlink, but how exactly does this help with
Elon’s dream of bringing mankind to Mars? After all, the title of the video is How
SpaceX’s Starlink could help Mars Colonization, so naturally, we have to answer that question.
Well, as any venture on Earth that anybody wants to do, projects need money. And projects
as huge as Mars colonization will require Uncle Scrooge levels of money to be able to execute.
I know you’re thinking, “Doesn’t Elon already have SpaceX
to generate huge income for the project? Can’t he use that instead?”
Technically, Elon uses the profit from that entity to fund his Mars exploration program.
However, it’s just that it’s not that strong a business.
Do you recall what SpaceX was made to do? In a nutshell,
SpaceX’s program promises to develop a low-cost commercially available space travel.
There weren’t many clients for this venture except for ISS resupply missions, and a few handful
future launches such as the DearMoon project, and that’s like the only thing we know. Do you
know any other private entities that are hiring SpaceX? There aren’t a lot, right?
And we’re not even mentioning that a lot of the ships that don’t even get to fulfill their actual
functions. If you’ve been following SpaceX news, you would know that there were a lot
of failed launches and explosions. Imagine how big of a loss those generate for the business.
These satellites will communicate with one another through the use of laser beams,
and effectively forms a mesh or a net around the globe. The customers on the
ground will receive connection through the use of a receiver dish.Typical satellite receiver tech.
According to estimates, this move will take only a small pinch out of a trillion dollar
telco industry. However, do you remember how much of the world has access to the internet right now?
Just about more or less half of the population, right? Imagine how much
profit it’s going to bring Elon if he successfully takes over that other half.
With their initial offering of plans going as low as 99 USD per month projected to go lower at 80,
some agencies approximate the earnings from this venture to reach a whopping
20 to 30 billion dollars a year, predicted to grow to as much as a hundred billion. To put
that in perspective, in its current form, Amazon -- not just one enterprise, okay?
The entirety of it -- generates around 21 billion dollars of profit every year.
That’s a crazy amount of money! Can you imagine what you can do -- no.
Can you imagine what you can’t do if you have that amount of money?
If you would give every person on Earth a dollar, you would still have a lot of money.
Hey, Reddit! Don’t sleep on buying SpaceX stocks when they go public!
With all these things considered, it’s even possible that when a colony is finally established
on Mars, Starlink could possibly become the first ever Martian ISP. With the positioning
of the internet climbing towards a basic need status, it wouldn’t be too difficult to think that
among the first few things that our Red Planet explorers will be laying down the foundations on
will be a nice, uninterrupted conduit for Skype calls to the Blue Planet neighbors.
If Starlink ever gets completed, Elon Musk hits two birds with a single shot:
connecting everyone on Earth with an affordable, competitive internet, while also becoming the
metaphorical catapult to mankind’s dreams of finally delivering our species to Mars.
For me, it’s not calling it too early to say that Elon will be the man of the century.
But you know, that’s just me! The opinion of one person! I’d like to know what you
think guys, let’s talk about this. Let’s have a conversation. Do you think SpaceX and
Starlink will deliver their covenant? Do you think that the goal of bringing man to Mars,
and bringing the internet everywhere in the world is a possibility that’s within our reach?
You know the drill, let us know in the comments section down below!
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See you in the next episode! Stay insanely curious!