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MSCI's microsatellite vision(Credit:MSCI)
A Canadian satellite maker announced plans today to launch a network of 78 small, relatively low-flying satellites designed to help relieve network congestion that's significantly dampening smartphone enthusiasm.
Microsat Systems Canada Inc. (MSCI) is trying to be a bit of a maverick with its project, called CommStellation. The company said its approach using small, inexpensive satellites in low Earth orbit about 620 miles up means better coverage of the world's population, quicker launch, and better network capacity.
MSCI likes to spotlight competition with O3b, the Google-backed satellite project to improve Net access for the other 3 billion people outside wealthy, well-wired areas areas. But realistically, the greater competition probably is more down to Earth--fiber optic lines and perhaps femtocells built to ease network congestion.
But MSCI argues its use of rugged but still relatively ordinary terrestrial electronics means it can move fast enough to make entry into new satellite communications markets a "no-brainer."
MSCI's illustration of its network of CommStellation satellites above the Earth.(Credit:MSCI)
"Until now, no one in the industry has been able to find the manufacturing cost and scheduling efficiencies and cost-effective microsatellite technology to enable an economically viable constellation of satellites to provide 100 percent global coverage," said Justin Phillips, MSCI's vice president of marketing, in a statement.
More specifically, the company is able to use more ordinary electronics with its lower-elevation satellites; medium-Earth orbit satellites such as rival O3b at about 5,000 miles need higher reliability components to withstand the temperature and radiation rigors of space. Its satellites are small, meaning that 14 can be packed into a single launch rocket compared to O3b's 4 satellites. And much less power is required to transmit data to and from the satellites since they're closer.
MSCI plans to launch satellites starting in 2014 and reach full network capability in 2015.
This isn't the sort of thing that a person's phone will tie into directly. Rather, mobile phone base stations or other local network hubs would link to the satellites. The satellites in turn link to a network of 20 ground stations around Earth that link to the Internet, providing what's known as "back-haul" network capacity.
Back-haul constraints are a big problem today for network operators trying to balance consumers' demand for profitable but data-hogging smartphones with their own needs to keep their networks from being crushed by the data traffic.
Each MSCI satellite has a data-transfer capacity of 12 gigabits per second. The expected lifespan of each is 10 years, and they can be sent back into the atmosphere at the end of their lives to avoid more orbital clutter.
MSCI plans to launch 84 satellites into six orbital planes, each 30 degrees apart. Each orbital plane gets 13 primary satellites and one spare.
Each satellite will provide coverage to a circular area of about 7 million square miles, MSCI said. Because the satellites travel in a polar orbit, meaning that they orbit along a line of longitude crossing over the north and south poles, coverage improves in the higher latitude where the orbits draw closer.
MSCI hasn't yet selected a launch partner or announced investors or customers in the project.
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