Space Exploration, satellite networks, colonizing the planets, space-manufacturing has been a big-buzz in this era. Adding more spices to it, a startup from U.S plans for high-speed internet on the Moon as soon as 2024. What the startup hold for this world is really astounding, a feat that no other company exactly tuned with.
As humanity prepares to set base on the Moon, scientists and researchers of space companies are looking for making the natural satellite reliable in all means, either in energy source, or in communication. And internet paves the best way of communicating, so which a space startup named ‘Aquarian space’ planned for fixing broadbands in Moon, bridging the gap between Earth & Moon.
“In 2021 there were 13 landers, orbiters, and rovers on and around the moon,” Kelly Larson, CEO of Aquarian Space, said in a statement. “By 2030, we will have around 200, creating a multibillion-dollar lunar economy. But this can’t happen without solid, reliable Earth-to-moon communications” she added.
Aquarian Space’s Solnet
Aquarian Space, has secured $650,000 (nearly ₹6 Crore) in seed funding from Draper Associates in hopes and aims of deploying broadband internet connections in Moon within 2024 and maybe even Mars, fast enough to stream 4K video.
According to Aquarian Space, though humans spend billions of dollars to launch space missions for exploration, limited communication in interplanetary space constraints the scientific data to get transferred from satellites to earth. In view to fetch the entire happenings of the space in earth, the startup marches so.
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‘Solnet’, by which the startup calls the project, would use high-speed delivery satellite networks with speeds of 100Mbps. Though the speed is not comparable to that of fiber optics’ 1Gbps, it’s fair enough to solve the existential communication gap.
“Our Space-Based Relay Network allows you to send and receive high volumes of uninterrupted streaming data quickly and reliable, 24/7. Governments and commercial space explorers are depending on innovative commercial telecom providers to fill this growing demand,” Aquarian Space said on its website.
Much better than Elon Musk’s Starlink
Though this startup’s approach is similar of Starlink, ie., launching satellites for internet service, Aquarian Space takes a much-advanced feat of conquering in the field, by pacifying the aspects what Starlink failed to do.
NASA warned Starlink mega constellation has the potential to make it harder for astronomers to detect a potentially catastrophic asteroid on a collision curse with Earth. But, in contrast, Aquarian Space says on its website that its satellites will provide planetary defense data including asteroid detection as well as Space Situation Awareness (SSA) for lunar defense.
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Thus, the startup currently serves for three different customers, Government Defense Agencies, International Space Agencies (NASA, ESA, ISRO, etc.) and Commercial Space Flight Explorers (SpaceX, Blue Origin, etc.).
Actions more than Words…
What Aquarian Space puts on billboard as its vision and mission, though seems to be appreciable, the startup has to work hard in differentiating itself from the existing giants SpaceX and Starlink. Also, since the startup proffers planetary defense data and lunar defense too, it has attracted a warm welcome from the space researchers and NASA, by which startup adds more hope to the world.
This isn’t the first time, mankind is aiming for highspeed internet on Moon. Back in 2014, NASA and MIT researchers showed off a new rig that provides internet in moon upto 19.44mbps of upload speed and 622mbps of download speed through a laser-powered communication uplink via RF signals. Nevertheless, due to complications of transferring data via laser to moon, the project had not been prevailed in the years. Aquarian Space should have to overcome these kind of obstacles for enabling people to chat and send videos between earth and moon.