What came first, satellite or the internet? A brief history of satellite communications.
As satellites and the internet are both seen as relatively modern wonders of technology, it is often questioned as to which of the two technologies came first. Perhaps surprisingly, it was satellites, with Russia launching Sputnik 1, at the height of the space race with the United States of America in October of 1957. Just a month later Russia launched Sputnik 2 and after several initial failures the USA successfully commissioned the satellite Vanguard 1 in 1958. Back then few would have fully appreciated the magnitude of this achievement, its societal impact and what it meant for the world at large.
The first satellites were primarily used to prove technology and concepts whilst performing scientific tasks such as measuring radiation and taking images of the Earth. In 1962 that would all change when Telstar 1 launched and was used to relay the first television broadcast between the USA and UK. Whilst more Telstar satellites were launched, they were still unlike the satellites that we use today for telecommunications and broadcast. It was an international consortium that included Britain, France, and the USA that worked to research and develop a series of geostationary satellites (GEO) that would test the technology that we now so heavily rely.
GEO satellites sit in a fixed position in orbit around the Earth and move with its rotation. For the first time, this allowed for continuous communication between a static antenna (dish) on the Earth and the satellite in orbit. The first geostationary satellite provided worldwide coverage, so enabling a global broadcast for the first time. The BBC had the honour of being the first organisation to broadcast live footage of its “Our World” television programme to millions of viewers around the globe on the 25th of June 1967. This first live broadcast included the world’s first live performance performed by the Beatles and their now globally famous “All you need is love”.
This early success would have a long-lasting impact on our planet, with further advancements in technology allowing for larger and more complex satellites that could perform a huge range of tasks and connect the most remote areas of the Earth. Hundreds of geostationary telecommunication satellites now sit in orbital slots around the planet, these located in what is known as the Clarke belt, named after the famous science fiction author Arthur C Clarke.
The current generation of geostationary satellites support a vast range of applications including broadcast, telephony, high speed broadband internet connectivity and maritime communications. The beauty of satellite communications is that they can provide telecommunications infrastructure over vast areas without the need for extensive ground infrastructure such as telegraph poles and thousands of miles of cables.
The cost of satellite services will vary greatly depending on the intended use or application, television broadcast usually being the lowest with broadband typically higher and linked to any associated bandwidth/data requirements. Thankfully, as satellite technology has developed, both the cost of equipment and the cost-of-service capacity has greatly reduced. This has enabled network operators to pass the savings onto their customers and allowed even more people to connect. Applications such as maritime and dedicated bandwidth remain relatively expensive, due to the amount of satellite capacity that they demand. Many may wonder why this connectivity is so costly and it boils down to the expense associated with the satellites research, development, fabrication, and launch. These costs alone will go into hundreds of millions of pounds and reasonably need to be recouped within the life span of the satellite for it to be a viable business proposition.
The typical life span of a geostationary satellite is approximately 8-10 years, but this can change if a satellite develops a fault or is damaged whilst in orbit. Satellites utilise solar powered batteries to harness and store energy from the sun, but they will also store a small amount of fuel that allows adjustments of position in orbit, usually to counter the effect of drift. Factor in that once a satellite is in orbit that no additional space can be added or that no upgrades can be performed, and you can appreciate why satellite operators need to charge a premium for capacity.
A typical home or business satellite system installation consists of an antenna, a run of coaxial cable plus a modem or receiver box, the cost and complexity of the installation varying on the intended use or application. The equipment costs associated with satellite television tend to be smaller than that of satellite broadband, as the equipment required has a lower specification due to it being used for signal reception only. In addition, a satellite broadband installation will be complicated by the fact that the antenna will need to be precisely aligned to enable the facility of data transmission.
One of the developments that satellite manufacturers and operators have been looking at to reduce costs and improve both coverage and service capability is with Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. LEO constellations comprise of hundreds to thousands of satellites that do not hold a fixed position, constantly moving so as one moves away another takes its place seamlessly. LEO satellites benefit from lower fabrication and launch costs as they are much smaller than their GEO counterparts. In contrast to a standard launch of up to three GEO satellites at a time and due to the decrease in dimensions, LEO satellites can be launched in large batches with SpaceX currently developing a rocket capable of carrying 400 satellites.
The consumer equipment required to receive a LEO service has an initial upfront cost more than that associated with GEO equipment but may not require a professional installation as the equipment is self-deploying and automatically tracks the satellites within the constellation. In terms of performance, LEO services are comparable to 5G mobile broadband but without the local bottlenecks associated with local mobile masts and backhaul infrastructure. LEO services are still in their infancy, but early adopters of the technology are sharing overwhelmingly positive feedback. With speeds currently as fast as 200Mbps down / 30Mbps up and latency of circa 30ms, LEO services stand to level up regions that have been left behind in terms of broadband performance.
LEO services are currently being delivered by OneWeb and Starlink, two satellite operators with the goal of providing worldwide coverage. OneWeb is part owned by the UK government and has a constellation that will consist of 648 satellites. Starlink, owned by SpaceX, is aiming for what has been dubbed a “mega constellation” consisting of 4408 satellites when it completes in 2027.
Concerns have been raised regarding the volume of new satellites entering orbit and what happens in the event of a collision or equipment failure. SpaceX recently suffered a minor setback with its rollout when a recent launch suffered at the hands of a geomagnetic storm which saw 40 out of 49 satellites fail to reach their orbital position, the doomed satellites gradually re-entering Earth’s atmosphere all burning up during re-entry.
So, in answer to the question what came first, satellites or internet? The answer is satellites and now we have entire satellite constellations dedicated to providing high-speed broadband internet to the entire globe. Here at Freedomsat we are an all-technology company with a longstanding globally available satellite broadband internet service using GEO satellite networks and look forward to adding LEO services to our portfolio as the technology matures.