[Starlink] Starlink Digest, Vol 25, Issue 28

[David Fernández]

Well, O3b MPower (MEO satellites) is offering independent one hop
dedicated access to the (Microsoft Azure) cloud as "killer
application". If the cloud is on the satellite, half-hop.

Starlink GWs are near Google Cloud datacenters.

Blue Origin is on the mission to move Amazon Cloud to orbit,
eventually, maybe, leaving the Earth as a garden to enjoy, without any
industry on the surface (in a century, maybe). Kuiper will offer one
hop access to Amazon Cloud, then half-hop.

What seems a crazy idea today will be eventually implemented later,
like Starlink (Teledesic failed, fingers crossed Starlink does not go
bankrupt, although I would expect it be saved by Department of
Defense, as Iridium was saved).

As we were discussing recently, maybe starting with anycast DNS
servers on satellites is a first step to consider, before embarking
any other type of cloud servers.

Regards,

David

> Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2023 04:33:00 +0000
> From: Ulrich Speidel <u.speidel at auckland.ac.nz>
> To: "tom at evslin.com" <tom at evslin.com>, 'Michael Richardson'
> 	<mcr at sandelman.ca>, 'starlink' <starlink at lists.bufferbloat.net>,
> 	"e-impact at ietf.org" <e-impact at ietf.org>
> Subject: Re: [Starlink] DataCenters in Space (was Re:  fiber IXPs in
> 	space)
> Message-ID:
> 	<SY4PR01MB697983BB5DEB1B2AA0B2690BCE639 at SY4PR01MB6979.ausprd01.prod.outlook.com>
> 	
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
>
> Where do I even start? The lack of substantial bandwidth between space and
> ground? The extra latency between ground and space compared to terrestrial
> cloud, especially as terrestrial cloud edge can move much closer to
> customers when space can't? The fact that every LEO satellite is both a few
> 100 km from every customer and out of the customer's range depending on when
> you look? That low temperatures in space don't mean superconductive chips
> that produce zero heat, and that that heat is difficult to get rid of in
> space? That generating power in space is orders of magnitude more expensive
> than on the ground?
>
> Just because Starlink can provide a service somewhere between DSL and low to
> medium grade fibre to a few million around the globe it's not "done". Even
> with 10x the number of satellites and a couple of times the current capacity
> per satellite, Starlink isn't going to supply more than a couple of 100
> million at best, and that's not even accounting for growth in demand from
> IOT...
>
> --
>
> ****************************************************************
> Dr. Ulrich Speidel
>
> School of Computer Science
>
> Room 303S.594 (City Campus)
> Ph: (+64-9)-373-7599 ext. 85282
>
> The University of Auckland
> ulrich at cs.auckland.ac.nz<mailto:ulrich at cs.auckland.ac.nz>
> http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~ulrich/
> ****************************************************************