A little
history on LEO space comms:
In 1987 Motorola engineers came up with the idea of a space-based communications network, at a time when cellular coverage was sketchy, analogue and distinctly regional.
In 1993 Motorola announced its $3.7bn Iridium
concept – an ambitious constellation of 77 low earth orbit (LEO) satellites providing global mobile voice communications to $3,000 handsets. Why Iridium? Because the element Iridium has 77 protons.
The design then changed to 66 satellites, but the name stuck.
Iridium launched its fleet in 1997 and began operation in 1998.
Unfortunately by then, GSM was already the de facto global system for mobile.
Iridium filed for bankruptcy protection in 1999.
In 1991
Globalstar was created as a joint venture between Qualcomm and spacecraft manufacturer Loral (later Alcatel and Vodafone would invest). They envisaged a constellation of 48 LEO satellites and planned to sell access to local terrestrial service providers; the business was costed at $1.8bn but soon rocketed to $2.2bn.
A launch failure in 1998 meant the loss of 12 satellites and
commercial service was delayed to 2000.
Globalstar filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002.
In 1995 Teledesic proposed a $9bn constellation of 840 LEO satellites, providing 720Mbit/s downlink speeds and 100Mbit/s uplink speeds. The original “Internet in the Sky” was led by telecoms veteran Craig McCaw and backed by Microsoft’s Paul Allen.
Teledesic never achieved its 2001 launch date, and went out of business in 2002.
ICO was created by Inmarsat as a $2.6bn medium earth orbit (MEO) system of 10 satellites, focused on expanding cellular coverage to under-served areas of the world.
It never entered
commercial service, despite later investment from McCaw and a proposed merger with Teledesic.
ICO filed for bankruptcy protection in 1999.
Odyssey was a $3.2bn MEO business created by Teleglobe and TRW in 1991 with 12 active satellites planned, with service scheduled to commence in 2000.
Odyssey gave up and merged with ICO in 1997.
SkyBridge was developed by Alcatel in 1997 and planned a constellation of 80 LEO satellites at a cost of $3.5bn (soon rising to $6bn).
SkyBridge gave up in 2002.
In 2008
Google invested in O3b Networks, but the company was acquired by Luxembourg
satellite company SES a year later. Founder Greg Wyler left to join
Google, but soon quit to form WordVu Satellites (also known as L5).
WordVu acquired the spectrum licence previously held by SkyBridge and planned two constellations, each of 180 LEO satellites, for commercial launch in 2019 at cost of $3bn.
In 2014 it emerged that WorldVu had established relations with Elon Musk, although there was no formal deal with SpaceX, and WorldVu changed its name to OneWeb.
In November 2014, Musk confirmed via a tweet that “SpaceX is still in the early stages of developing advanced micro-satellites operating in large formations.”
In 2015 OneWeb secured
funding from Virgin Group and Qualcomm to build and launch a planned constellation of 650 LEO satellites.
Days later, SpaceX announced its LEO plan, focused on ISP and backhaul with a constellation of 4,000
satellite and a commercial launch date of 2020. Apparently Musk and Wyler agreed to disagree and go their separate ways.
In 2016 OneWeb revised its plan to add a further 2,000 V-band satellites in non-geosynchronous orbits, having secured $1bn from SoftBank a few months earlier.
In 2017 OneWeb merged with Intelsat with a $1.7bn investment from SoftBank. Wyler testified at a US Senate Committee Hearing that manufacturing will commence this year, as will the first launch of 10 satellites with Arianespace in May (and later Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic). He said the service will offer up to 2.5Gbit/s direct to homes, and plans to fully bridge the digital divide by 2027”.
Which brings us to StarLink in 2018/2019