Re: [Starlink] Alphabet spins off Starlink competitor Taara

[David Lang <david@lang.hm>]

Hesham ElBakoury wrote:

> https://www.theverge.com/news/631049/alphabet-spins-off-starlink-competitor-taara?mc_cid=1a1e15a2db&mc_eid=105d343de1

Interesting, a laser in a professionally installed/aligned tower is going to be 
able to have a higher bandwidth than the starlink dishy.

but the claim that it will be far cheaper than Starlink?? that tower and a 
ground station that tracks the satellites in real time is going to be FAR more 
expensive than a dishy. Since it's going to be in motion at all times, it's 
got mechanical parts to wear out, and physically re-aiming a laser between 
connections (on both ends) is going to be a lot slower than electronic aiming of 
a phased array antenna.

As a community gateway where a lot of people share a single satellite 
connection, it could work, but even there I question if it would be cheaper.

There's also the question of the cost of satellites. Are they willing to take 
the Starlink approach of cheap satellites? or are they still thinking 'industry 
standard' where each satellite is far bigger, heavier, and more expensive?

David Lang