{"id":19041,"date":"2017-03-08T22:07:20","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T14:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/google-patent-filing-hints-at-how-spacexs-satellite-broadband-network-could-work\/"},"modified":"2017-03-08T22:07:20","modified_gmt":"2017-03-08T14:07:20","slug":"google-patent-filing-hints-at-how-spacexs-satellite-broadband-network-could-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/google-patent-filing-hints-at-how-spacexs-satellite-broadband-network-could-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Google patent filing hints at how SpaceX\u2019s satellite broadband network could work"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_316083\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-316083\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-316083\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170308-constel-patentyogi-630x497.jpg\" alt=\"Satellite arrangement\" width=\"630\" height=\"497\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170308-constel-patentyogi-630x497.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170308-constel-patentyogi-768x605.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170308-constel-patentyogi.jpg 1035w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-316083\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The satellite coverage scheme described in a patent application envisions two sets of satellites orbiting in different inclinations at different altitudes. (PatentYogi via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>When it comes to providing global broadband internet coverage, two satellite constellations in low Earth orbit are better than one. At least that\u2019s the implication of a patent application filed by an inventor who used to work at Google and is now part of SpaceX\u2019s Seattle-area satellite operation.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Krebs\u2019 concept is described in an application that was filed last September, published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in January, and picked up this week by PatentYogi\u2019s Deepak Gupta. It calls for setting up two sets of satellites orbiting at different altitudes with different inclinations.<\/p>\n<p>The scheme brings a couple of advantages: It eases the way for putting up thousands of satellites in orbits that cross over each other without having to worry about the threat of collision. The orbital arrangement also makes it easier to provide overlapping coverage for customers down below. That allows for a smooth handoff from one satellite to another, and provides more of a backup in case a single satellite goes offline.<\/p>\n<p>The higher-orbiting constellation provides wider coverage, while the lower-orbiting constellation provides higher bandwidth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe satellites are arranged to provide at least 75 percent coverage of the Earth at any given time,\u201d Gupta says in a YouTube video describing the scheme.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Elon Musk is Working on The Biggest Space Project Ever with Google | PatentYogi Research\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Zro4Lj4YlSo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Krebs\u2019 move from Google to SpaceX suggests that this is more than a blue-sky concept: Back in 2015, at around the same time that SpaceX\u2019s Elon Musk announced the establishment of the satellite operation in Redmond, Wash., Google and Fidelity&nbsp;invested $1 billion to back the company\u2019s effort to create a 4,425-satellite constellation for internet service. That meshes with the scale of the system described in Krebs\u2019 application.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX is expanding its&nbsp;presence in Redmond, stoking suspicions that the satellite operation will soon raise its profile. Musk has said he sees the potential revenue from the satellite system as a significant contributor to his long-term vision of establishing cities on Mars.<\/p>\n<p>Musk isn\u2019t the only one who\u2019s planning a huge satellite broadband network: OneWeb is also gearing up to put hundreds and eventually thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit. OneWeb has been in the news lately, due to its plans for a merger with Intelsat and its deal with Blue Origin for five launches in the 2020s. Both SpaceX and OneWeb are aiming to get the first stage of their services up and running by 2020&nbsp;\u2013 which suggests the skies are going to get pretty crowded in the years ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The satellite coverage scheme described in a patent application envisions two sets of satellites orbiting in different inclinations at different altitudes. (PatentYogi via YouTube) When it comes to providing global broadband internet coverage, two satellite constellations in low Earth orbit are better than one. At least that\u2019s the implication of a patent application filed by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[252,3055,5445,20,316],"class_list":["post-19041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-broadband","tag-google","tag-internet-connectivity","tag-satellite","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19041"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19041\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}