by
Mark Ollig
A
group of motivated entrepreneurs have an ambitious idea for providing free
information content and Internet access – on a global scale.
The
plan: release into space hundreds of CubeSats which will orbit the Earth. While
circling the Earth, they will transmit digital data content, and provide
Internet access to all of us living on the surface.
“What
are CubeSats?” you might be asking yourself.
Well,
you are not alone, as I, too, was unaware of CubeSats.
And
so, yours truly began to do some CubeSat research.
CubeSats
are, in fact, fully- working, miniature cubed satellites used in space. They
are also referred to as “nanosatellites.”
One
type of CubeSat is roughly 4 inches square, and weighs approximately 3 pounds;
hence the name is based upon their cubed shape.
OK,
back to the plan. It is called Project Outernet.
The
entrepreneur’s at Outernet envision hundreds of Earth-orbiting CubeSats, transmitting
information to all corners of the globe, including the 40 percent of the
world’s population which has no readily available Internet access.
Outernet
plans on providing high-quality educational, news, and entertainment content,
along with Internet access via Wi-Fi multicasting, at no cost.
Outernet
is receiving support from Digital News Ventures, which is a subsidiary of Media
Development Investment Fund, a non-profit investing in emerging markets
news-related startups.
Today,
there are regions of the world where mobile smartphones, tablets, and other
mobile computing devices are unusable, due to the unavailability of a technical
network infrastructure to support them.
The
needed cell towers, fiber-optic, coaxial, or even telephone copper cables used
for transmitting digital data, are not available in certain parts of the world.
The
main page on the Outernet’s website states, “The primary objective of Outernet
is to bridge the global information divide.”
They
go further by declaring access to knowledge and information is a “human right.”
Providing
everyone, located anywhere on the planet, with the means to access digital
informational content, and Internet access at no cost, would truly be
revolutionary.
According
to Outernet, their Earth-orbiting CubeSats will receive digital data content
via upload from ground stations, and then re-transmit this data directly to
people’s mobile smartphones, computing devices, and tablets.
The
free, two-way Internet nanosatellite access will come later.
Outernet
points out how this new space network could also be utilized for “emergency
communications” in the event cellular networks on the ground fail.
“Outernet
consists of a constellation of hundreds of low-cost, miniature satellites in
low Earth orbit. Each satellite receives data streams from a network of ground
stations and transmits that data in a continuous loop until new content is
received,” according to Outernet’s website.
Wouldn’t
having hundreds of these small satellite cubes circling the earth just add to
the current space debris problem?
Well,
the answer is, “no,” because the CubeSats are placed in a very low orbit, and
after a few weeks or months, their orbits will begin to decay, which causes
them to fall back into the Earth’s atmosphere, and burn up.
I’m
no Einstein, but it seems to me a constant, fresh supply of CubeSats will need
to be regularly placed into orbit. This will cost money.
The
California Polytechnic State University, located in San Luis Obispo, CA, first
developed CubeSats in 1999.
The
university (also known as Cal Poly) developed them in order to assist other
universities around the world in accomplishing science exploration in space.
A
CubeSat can be built for less than $50,000. This makes it financially
achievable for some schools and universities to construct their own CubeSats
for data-collecting science projects, and have them launched into space.
CubeSats
are launched and released into space from inside a Poly-PicoSatellite Orbital
Deployer, which is attached onto a rocket as a secondary payload.
The
International Space Station uses the Small Satellite Orbital Deployer when
releasing CubeSats into space from the space station.
NASA
has established a NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) web page. This is for
providing free, CubeSat rides into space for science missions, and is intended
to offer data-collecting opportunities for students, teachers, professionals,
and those involved in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
(STEM) program.
As
of this writing, CubeSat Launch Initiative selectees have come from 25 states;
some states have multiple selectees.
Minnesota
currently has no selectees; however, in North Dakota, the University of North
Dakota’s John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences does.
Here
is a link with the updated locations of current CubeSat providers selected via
the CubeSat Launch Initiative: http://tinyurl.com/bytes-nasa5.
NASA’s
CSLI web page, which includes an informative 32-minute video, can be seen at
http://tinyurl.com/bytes-nasa4.
Outernet’s
project timeline began in December 2013, when the Phase I Technical Assessment
was completed.
This
June, development of prototype CubeSats and testing of long-range WiFi begins.
By
September, they anticipate transmission testing onboard the International Space
Station.
Outernet
expects having established the manufacturing process for “hundreds of
satellites” by April 2015.
The
deployment into space of Outernet’s CubeSats is scheduled to begin in June
2015.
Will
this plan become a reality? Stay tuned.
The
website for Outernet is https://www.outernet.is.
