{"id":16824,"date":"2023-08-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/07-08-2023\/starlink-new-sovereign-of-low-earth-orbit\/"},"modified":"2023-08-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T00:00:00","slug":"starlink-new-sovereign-of-low-earth-orbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/editorial-analysis\/07-08-2023\/starlink-new-sovereign-of-low-earth-orbit","title":{"rendered":"Starlink: New Sovereign of Low-earth Orbit"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Starlink: New Sovereign of Low-earth Orbit\u00a0<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n
Syllabus: GS3\/ Science & Technology<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
In Context<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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\u00a0Starlink\u2019s importance in Ukraine has hammered in how high-speed satellite Internet access is quickly becoming the most valuable strategic resource in a conflict or war-stricken region.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
About the Starlink Project<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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Starlink is a satellite constellation that comprises thousands of <\/span><\/span><\/span>small satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO).\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
SpaceX <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>first began sending them into space in 2019.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n
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SpaceX is an <\/span><\/span><\/span>American aerospace manufacturer <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>and space transport services company <\/span><\/span><\/span>founded by Elon Musk<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
Currently, there are more than 3,000 of these satellites that send internet signals to designated ground receivers.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
Unlike traditional internet providers, Starlink doesn\u2019t require any ground infrastructure.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
One just needs to have a small satellite dish or a receiver device to access high-speed internet, much like satellite TV.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Significance of Starlink<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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Simple idea behind Starlink:<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span>Governments or companies <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>would send up small satellites into space that would beam high-speed Internet to users with the help of ground stations or terminals back on earth.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n
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Elon Musk post-2019, placed better satellites <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>closer to earth, and in a <\/span><\/span><\/span>connected constellation<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> could bring satellite internet access on par with the average broadband experience.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
Starlink\u2019s hegemony: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>Today, <\/span><\/span><\/span>Musk\u2019s Starlink service is the undisputed king<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> of the section of space called low-earth orbit (LEO).\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n
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Of the <\/span><\/span><\/span>roughly 7,500 active satellites<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> that orbit Earth today, more than half are Starlink satellites.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
There are a <\/span><\/span><\/span>handful of competitors, some backed by governments<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>:\u00a0 Viasat, OneWeb, Avanti, SES, Immarsaat, and Iridium. But none of them come close to offering the<\/span><\/span><\/span> convenience, speed or affordability<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> of Starlink.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
Accessibility in combat environment: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>According to the report, what makes Starlink easily accessible even in the combat environment is the fact that the <\/span><\/span><\/span>dishes and terminals used for providing the internet are portable <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>and can be<\/span><\/span><\/span> rigged to run off a car battery<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n
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In an area which has an <\/span><\/span><\/span>unreliable supply of electricity<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>, this is a huge advantage.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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Apart from this, because Starlink consists of thousands of satellites that orbit around the Earth and <\/span><\/span><\/span>aren\u2019t too far from the ground,<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> they are able to <\/span><\/span><\/span>provide high bandwidth without many glitches<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n
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This has also made <\/span><\/span><\/span>drone warfare<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> much easier.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Challenges<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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Russia Ukraine – Operations controlled by company: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>After the Russia-Ukraine war broke out in 2022, <\/span><\/span><\/span>fibre network lines and cell towers<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> were the first pieces of infrastructure to be <\/span><\/span><\/span>destroyed,<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> rendering <\/span><\/span><\/span>Starlink as the lifeblood of Ukraine\u2019s communication network<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n
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When Internet connectivity is deployed in a region, the nature of the technology is such that its<\/span><\/span><\/span> operations aren\u2019t controlled by the user, but by the company.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
So when the Ukrainian government wanted to switch on\/off access in a particular area.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n
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For example, <\/span><\/span><\/span>if a piece of territory had fallen into Russian hands <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>and a few Starlink dishes or terminals had been lost \u2013 it <\/span><\/span><\/span>had to call up Starlink each and every time<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
Lack of regulations & Starlink\u2019s monopoly: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>Traditional infrastructure works on a<\/span><\/span><\/span> public-utility principle<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>. Toll-road operators don\u2019t get to decide who uses their roads.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n
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Similarly,<\/span><\/span><\/span> telecom companies don\u2019t get to decide whether a particular region deserves no internet access <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>because its inhabitants might use it for unsavoury purposes.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
Yet satellite internet companies get to insert themselves in key debates <\/span><\/span><\/span>because of how the technology works and the lack of regulation.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>\n
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For instance,<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> Musk reportedly had refused Ukraine\u2019s request in 2022 to provide Starlink connectivity near Crimea.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
Issues of space debris: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>The satellites of Starlink work <\/span><\/span><\/span>only for five years<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> and once they are dysfunctional, they remain in space and<\/span><\/span><\/span> contribute to space debris<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n
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SpaceX\u2019s ambitious plan of launching 42,000 more satellites in the next few years <\/span><\/span><\/span>might lead to overcrowding in our orbit,<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> which in turn would impede astronomers from making observations from Earth.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Suggestions<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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Need to end monopoly: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>The obvious solution is that we need more LEO satellite constellations \u2013 government, private or some combination of the two \u2013 that provide Internet access.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
Need of government-specific projects: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>Rival firm OneWeb, whose biggest shareholders are Bharti Airtel\u2019s holding company and the U.K. government, were forced to abort a launch in Russia after Putin demanded the satellites not be used against Moscow.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n
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OneWeb took a $230 million hit after Russia refused to return its satellites too. And this is why more government-specific projects are needed.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Way ahead<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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In 2022, the <\/span><\/span><\/span>European Union<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> earmarked EUR 2.4 billion to set up a \u201csovereign\u201d satellite constellation to be rolled out by 2027.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
China <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>has its own plans to deploy a <\/span><\/span><\/span>13,000-satellite LEO mega constellation<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> to rival Starlink.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
Starlink\u2019s disputes with Ukraine and other countries should serve as a wake-up call of how the power of the stars is quickly being concentrated in the hands of just one man, and a worrying lesson for any country or government looking to depend on Musk for connectivity.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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Daily Mains Question<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
[Q] <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>Starlink\u2019s disputes with Ukraine and other countries should serve as a wake-up call of how the power of the stars is quickly being concentrated in the hands of just one organization. Analyse.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/body><\/html><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Starlink: New Sovereign of Low-earth Orbit\u00a0 Syllabus: GS3\/ Science & Technology In Context \u00a0Starlink\u2019s importance in Ukraine has hammered in how high-speed satellite Internet access is quickly becoming the most valuable strategic resource in a conflict or war-stricken region.\u00a0 About the Starlink Project Starlink is a satellite constellation that comprises thousands of small satellites in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-16824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial-analysis","tag-thehindu"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/09\/3033558images.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}