Dev.SN

Outernet - Information from Outer Space

posted by Cactus on Wednesday February 26 2014, @03:00AM   
from the don't-panic-and-always-know-where-your-towel-is dept.

AnonTechie writes

Media Development Investment Fund, a New York based non-profit, is looking to offer a world-wide data stream free of charge.
Dubbed the 'Outernet', the network will broadcast a one-way data stream to the entire world via a network of mini satellites. The idea is to bridge the digital divide, offering some of the most important (and basic) information on the internet to people regardless of location.

Outernet has posted intention to deliver staples such as: local and international news, OpenStreetMap, Wikipedia, Ubuntu, various educational courseware, and emergency communications systems for use when cell systems fail.

• Re:The Internet will be televised (Score: 3, Interesting) by Foobar Bazbot on Wednesday February 26 2014, @02:18PM

  by Foobar Bazbot (37) on Wednesday February 26 2014, @02:18PM (#7444)

  You seem to believe they have any intent of launching satellites. On Outernet's site, there's a lot about the benefits of the proposed system, a little about characteristics of the proposed system, and nothing at all about a plan to actually create the system. I may be cynical, but at this point it looks a little too much like a scam -- tap into people's emotions about how much the broadcast-only phase will help those poor savages around the world, tap into their greed with the promise that the next step will be absolutely-free, two-way internet access for your smartphone, collect their donations, and laugh all the way to the bank.

  Of course it's also possible that they do intend to launch the satellite, but are fundraising before they have a real plan, on the theory that, once they have enough money, they can hire an engineer to come up with a plan meeting whatever constraints they've already committed to -- I guess Hanlon's Razor supports this explanation. Or maybe they have a "plan", but it's so ridiculous they're afraid to post it because they know it will be torn apart in short order... better to forgo a few donations from people who, like me, won't donate to such a project without technical details, than to lose lots of donations when "Rocket Scientists: Outernet Plan is 'Crackpottery'" headlines are all over the news.

  Anyway, assuming good faith, the limited details that have been released suggest a massive (100s of birds) LEO constellation. The eccentric geosynchronous orbit of Sirius's original satellites takes them well beyond GEO at apogee, requiring rather large antennae to get usable signal strength on the ground. The Outernet people plan to use rather small satellites, which means small antennas, which means low gain, which (in conjunction with low-cost ground stations) means low altitude.

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