My briefing from the team this time was an article focusing on the latest developments in space technology, satellite launches, space exploration missions, and the commercialisation of space. As one of the eldest in the biz, it is my duty to remind the team of the past and how they’ve never had it so good 😊 

Back in the early 1990’s as an apprentice, at what is now BT Adastral Park, I was doing my placements across various business units. This particular placement was in the Satellite Team at the very far corner of the site, tucked away in a portacabin called P4. The research was into the transmission of “modern” data systems over a satellite link. We were trying to get the Internet Protocol to work over a high latency, high jitter, high loss satellite system. By converting TCP to UDP through some clever proxy style technology we were able to get basic services such as FTP and TELNET to work……just. 

Suffolk has a long established history in space and satellite communications….after all, Suffolk is the home of “Britain’s Roswell incident” with the UFO sightings at Rendlesham in Dec 1980 (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendlesham_Forest_incident). Prior to this, it was also home to the development of RADAR. 

Turning back to Satellite communications, a concept first proposed in 1945 by Royal Air Force officer Arthur C. Clarke; over 20 years before he became a famous science fiction author with “2001: A Space Odyssey”. The technology has advanced massively, even since my research time in the ‘90’s, with the site https://orbit.ing-now.com/ reporting almost 10,000 satellites. 

30 years ago getting basic IP functionality over Satellite was a real challenge. Today, probably the most well known in this area, is Starlink, a satellite-based internet project from SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space exploration and aerospace company. The network of satellites are used to provide low-latency and high-speed internet to places around the world that are not currently serviced. The system consists of thousands (currently over 6,000) of mass-produced small satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) working in combination with ground transceivers. Amazingly, this system is capable of delivering 150Mbps Internet access to almost anywhere on the planet. The obvious use case is those rural locations that are never going to get traditional fibre based Internet connectivity. However, two other use cases are for roaming (not just nomadic motorhome lifestyle, but building sites, archaeological digs, and other areas that require good comms for a relatively short period of time) and water based connectivity (boats, ships, exploratory platforms, drilling rigs, etc). 

Such progress is amazing but does come with one significant risk; Space Junk. The first satellite (Sputnik 1) was launched in 1957, with space exploration prior and since creating a bit of a mess. Space Junk (or debris) is all the bits of spaceships, rockets, satellites, etc that we have left in space. Any items falling back towards earth will (mostly) burn up on re-entry, but it is those items which could collide with other satellites (or manned space craft/stations) which are the big concern. Every year, hundreds of collision avoidance manoeuvre's are undertaken to keep our satellites safe. 

Back to Earth (pun intended) business continuity is something that all businesses have to consider. Whether your Internet access is via land based fibre or satellite, you should have a plan of how your business will continue if that service is disrupted....maybe Space Junk should be on the corporate risk register 🙂