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Astrome Technologies plans to launch 150 satellites for the purpose. Once the project is up and ready, users can install antennas and avail high-speed internet services anywhere, said Prasad HL Bhat
Post-2020, you can go on a trek to the remotest corner of India (or the world), set up an antenna and avail high-speed internet. This will be a reality with a one-year-old start-up from the Indian Institute of Science, Astrome Technologies, launching a constellation of 150 satellites to provide high-speed internet services from space by 2020.
Astrome's founder-chairman and chief technological officer, Dr Prasad HL Bhat, told Bangalore Mirror that the key difference internet from space would make to the common users is that "the user just needs to install an antenna on the rooftop and he/she can avail high-speed internet whether on a mountain-top or in a village or in a city. That makes a huge difference as the user is not dependent on the infrastructure coming to him (as in terrestrial internet), but just go and put it anywhere he likes." He said the high speed of internet would be assured through the very high bandwidth of 100 Gbps (giga bytes per second) per satellite as compared to the conventional satellites providing terrestrial infrastructuresupported internet of just 8-12 Gbps per satellite. "We are already developing the core technologies to provide this very high bandwidth," Bhat said.
Astrome plans to manufacture the 150 satellites and the land-based antennas on a partnership basis with a network of Indian and foreign collaborators whose infrastructure facilities and services they would use. The masters and PhD holder in computer science and automation systems engineering from IISc said they have planned to launch the satellites through Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as well as foreign private space agencies, with whom they are in talks. "(But) there are new players like SpaceX and Blue Origin who are going to bring down the cost by up to three times per launch due to their tested reusable rocket launcher technologies."
Bhat said the project is progressing in steps. While the core communication technologies of the satellites are being developed and tested at present, they will be ready with a prototype by December 2016 to be demonstrated. "By June 2017, we will have two versions of the demos. Once they are demonstrated on the ground, we will demonstrate them as a payload on a partner satellite, wherein we will not be investing but only partner with someone to test it actually in space." After that, Astrome plans to launch 5-10 satellites which will have a separate market for Internet of things (IoT). "In this stage, we will provide services, say for example, monitoring tea estates that have a series of video cameras but cannot upload them. The IoT services will allow them to access the video data. Similarly we will offer services for agriculture too."
The last step will be launching the 150 satellites (each weighing 100-200 Kg) to provide internet from space in batches of up to 10 satellites in each launch - a total of 15 to 20 rocket launches to release the satellites at an altitude of 1,000 Km at an inclination to the equator to provide high-speed internet services from space through established service providers in respective geographical locations not only to India but in other countries of South Asia, Africa and Latin America, too. While US' OneWeb is launching a constellation of 648 satellites - which would go up to 900 in its second phase - to provide high-speed internet from space, Bhat said, "We plan to pack more capacity per satellite because of which the cost offered per Mbps (megabytes per second) will be one order lesser than OneWeb." OneWeb's constellation is expected to be up and providing services around the same time as Astrome's satellite constellation
High-speed internet for India’s remotest corners by 2020 - Bangalore Mirror
Post-2020, you can go on a trek to the remotest corner of India (or the world), set up an antenna and avail high-speed internet. This will be a reality with a one-year-old start-up from the Indian Institute of Science, Astrome Technologies, launching a constellation of 150 satellites to provide high-speed internet services from space by 2020.
Astrome's founder-chairman and chief technological officer, Dr Prasad HL Bhat, told Bangalore Mirror that the key difference internet from space would make to the common users is that "the user just needs to install an antenna on the rooftop and he/she can avail high-speed internet whether on a mountain-top or in a village or in a city. That makes a huge difference as the user is not dependent on the infrastructure coming to him (as in terrestrial internet), but just go and put it anywhere he likes." He said the high speed of internet would be assured through the very high bandwidth of 100 Gbps (giga bytes per second) per satellite as compared to the conventional satellites providing terrestrial infrastructuresupported internet of just 8-12 Gbps per satellite. "We are already developing the core technologies to provide this very high bandwidth," Bhat said.
Astrome plans to manufacture the 150 satellites and the land-based antennas on a partnership basis with a network of Indian and foreign collaborators whose infrastructure facilities and services they would use. The masters and PhD holder in computer science and automation systems engineering from IISc said they have planned to launch the satellites through Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as well as foreign private space agencies, with whom they are in talks. "(But) there are new players like SpaceX and Blue Origin who are going to bring down the cost by up to three times per launch due to their tested reusable rocket launcher technologies."
Bhat said the project is progressing in steps. While the core communication technologies of the satellites are being developed and tested at present, they will be ready with a prototype by December 2016 to be demonstrated. "By June 2017, we will have two versions of the demos. Once they are demonstrated on the ground, we will demonstrate them as a payload on a partner satellite, wherein we will not be investing but only partner with someone to test it actually in space." After that, Astrome plans to launch 5-10 satellites which will have a separate market for Internet of things (IoT). "In this stage, we will provide services, say for example, monitoring tea estates that have a series of video cameras but cannot upload them. The IoT services will allow them to access the video data. Similarly we will offer services for agriculture too."
The last step will be launching the 150 satellites (each weighing 100-200 Kg) to provide internet from space in batches of up to 10 satellites in each launch - a total of 15 to 20 rocket launches to release the satellites at an altitude of 1,000 Km at an inclination to the equator to provide high-speed internet services from space through established service providers in respective geographical locations not only to India but in other countries of South Asia, Africa and Latin America, too. While US' OneWeb is launching a constellation of 648 satellites - which would go up to 900 in its second phase - to provide high-speed internet from space, Bhat said, "We plan to pack more capacity per satellite because of which the cost offered per Mbps (megabytes per second) will be one order lesser than OneWeb." OneWeb's constellation is expected to be up and providing services around the same time as Astrome's satellite constellation
High-speed internet for India’s remotest corners by 2020 - Bangalore Mirror
