Amazon Renames 'Project Kuiper' Satellite Internet Venture To 'Leo' (geekwire.com) 36
Amazon announced that its satellite broadband project called Project Kuiper will now be known as Amazon Leo. GeekWire reports: Leo is a nod to "low Earth orbit," where Amazon has so far launched more than 150 satellites as part of a constellation that will eventually include more than 3,200. In a blog post, Amazon said the 7-year-old Project Kuiper began "with a handful of engineers and a few designs on paper" and like most early Amazon projects "the program needed a code name." The team was inspired by the Kuiper Belt, a ring of asteroids in the outer solar system.
A new website for Amazon Leo proclaims "a new era of internet is coming," as Amazon says its satellites can help serve "billions of people on the planet who lack high-speed internet access, and millions of businesses, governments, and other organizations operating in places without reliable connectivity." Amazon said it will begin rolling out service once it's added more coverage and capacity to the network. Details about pricing and availability haven't been announced.
A new website for Amazon Leo proclaims "a new era of internet is coming," as Amazon says its satellites can help serve "billions of people on the planet who lack high-speed internet access, and millions of businesses, governments, and other organizations operating in places without reliable connectivity." Amazon said it will begin rolling out service once it's added more coverage and capacity to the network. Details about pricing and availability haven't been announced.
So why are they renaming it? (Score:2)
Re: So why are they renaming it? (Score:4, Interesting)
They should rename it Kessler instead because it's going to be the path to the Kessler Syndrome.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
They are low enough that even if they did cause major pollution, it should mostly clear itself inside a decade.
The bigger worry is pollution. Burning up so many satellites in the upper atmosphere is something that hasn't been studied enough, but the work that has been done suggests that it's bad for greenhouse effect and for general air quality.
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They are low enough that even if they did cause major pollution, it should mostly clear itself inside a decade.
The bigger worry is pollution. Burning up so many satellites in the upper atmosphere is something that hasn't been studied enough, but the work that has been done suggests that it's bad for greenhouse effect and for general air quality.
If you believe that making low earth orbit impassible for a decade is good news, I have some bad news for you.
Regardless, the nature of the energy transfer from colliding objects in space means that some of the debris will end up in a higher orbit.
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Oh I didn't say it wasn't really, really bad, just that the main concern with Kessler Syndrome is that it is extremely difficult to clean up.
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They are low enough that even if they did cause major pollution, it should mostly clear itself inside a decade.
In any satellite collision, some fraction of the debris gets kicked into a higher orbit. It's perigee may still be low, so it may still burn up sooner, but it also has a chance of affecting satellites in higher orbits.
In other words: what happens in low orbit doesn't necessarily stay there.
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True. I wonder how bad that would be. How much stuff would get kicked up with enough delta V to enter a long duration orbit
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I read, then re-read it and still can't understand. "Leo" somehow projects "new era of internet" better than "Kuiper"? Why?
TFA clarifies that “Leo” is a nod to low earth orbit. I took that clarification as a clear example of why this program might fail. Since no one remembers what an acronym is.
Might as well have renamed to project “Space” as a convenient reminder for everyone on the team where the satellites go.
Re:So why are they renaming it? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's probably due to many people not being sure how to pronounce Kuiper.
Re: (Score:1)
Nah, it's papal.
The Vatican should sue.
Re: So why are they renaming it? (Score:2)
Re: So why are they renaming it? (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Leo is Latin while Kuiper is Dutch.
I don't get it either, besides 'Leo' allowing better logos.
Re: So why are they renaming it? (Score:1)
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Once they put their marketing claims out there, we can call them Leo the Lyin' (also in honor of them owning MGM).
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People couldn't pronounce Kuiper correctly, and the name Starlink was already taken.So, Leo it is?
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I read, then re-read it and still can't understand. "Leo" somehow projects "new era of internet" better than "Kuiper"? Why?
My guess is that the finance team got wind of it, and they're tightening their belt.
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For the same reason that you never had any computers running Windows Chicago or Windows Longhorn. Except Kuiper got more widely covered in the press for a long time before launch.
Project Kessler. (Score:3)
Leo is a nod to "low Earth orbit," where Amazon has so far launched more than 150 satellites as part of a constellation that will eventually include more than 3,200..Amazon says its satellites can help serve "billions of people on the planet who lack high-speed internet access, and millions of businesses, governments, and other organizations operating in places without reliable connectivity."
Probably should have named it Project Kessler. Since that seems to be some kind of fucking goal here.
10,000 satellites ago I’d probably think this was a cool story bro. For some reason I have to fight the urge to yell “COPYCAT” at the top of my lungs instead. Can’t imagine why.
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These satellites are hundreds of miles from each other. Furthermore they are in LEO which means the orbit decays in under 5 years if they don't have regular thrust correction. We've already had satellite collisions in space and last I checked space is still fine. The only way for Kessler to be real (and that too temporary) is if someone put hundreds or thousands of tons of ball bearings above a certain size up there.
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These satellites are hundreds of miles from each other. Furthermore they are in LEO which means the orbit decays in under 5 years if they don't have regular thrust correction. We've already had satellite collisions in space and last I checked space is still fine. The only way for Kessler to be real (and that too temporary) is if someone put hundreds or thousands of tons of ball bearings above a certain size up there.
NORAD was tracking over 18,000 objects in our orbit in the early 1990s. And hundreds of thousands is starting to describe the plans for that orbit. How many cellular providers are on planet now? How many ISPs? How many companies will now follow both SpaceX and Amazon into LEO to compete for the same exact thing? Who is stopping them? Cost is an artificial constraint when Greed can always find someone else’s money to pay for shit. Taxpayer money smells the best.
As far as the satellite collisions
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These satellites are hundreds of miles from each other. Furthermore they are in LEO which means the orbit decays in under 5 years if they don't have regular thrust correction. We've already had satellite collisions in space and last I checked space is still fine. The only way for Kessler to be real (and that too temporary) is if someone put hundreds or thousands of tons of ball bearings above a certain size up there.
Well, Kessler's orbital mechanics work out. Objects travelling over 28,200 kpm have incredible kinetic energy. A space shuttle window was very damaged by a paint fleck. There results of larger object collisions will be all that much more impactful - pun intended. That transfer of energy will send some of the debris higher., some lower.
Just recently, the Shenzhou-20 was damaged by space junk. https://www.scientificamerican... [scientificamerican.com]
An Intelsat broke up in orbit recently. They are still investigating the caus
Re: Project Kessler. (Score:2)
Sand wonâ(TM)t do it. The impact has to fragment the satellite.
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Sand wonâ(TM)t do it. The impact has to fragment the satellite.
Kinetic energy. And it depends on where the sand hits, and how much of it hits. https://hvit.jsc.nasa.gov/impa... [nasa.gov]. Impacts by things like paint flecks do interesting things, sand is much larger.
But I wasn't trying for a second to say that sand or ball bearings were going to cause a Kessler event. Although a breach of hydrazine propellent with cause impressive destruction if hits thse catalyst bed. My point was that thinking that your satellites are safe is simply wrong. Doesn't take much technology to br
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What's copycat about it by the way? It's well known that Elon got the idea for Starlink after WorldVu went to SpaceX for launch services to launch its own mega-constellation. And WorldVu itself was just a extrapolation of Motorola Iridium.
Sigh. (Score:3)
Good for you.
Now...
When can we fecking buy it?
Anything but the proper solution (Score:2)
Why not just build the proper infrastructure with what we know works?
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We don't have anything that works. There are dead zones even in cities. Rural, hilly, or forest areas have terrible coverage. Tens of billions spent and hardly anything to show for it. And I'm just talking about the US.
Re: Anything but the proper solution (Score:2)
I know. I am in a horrible spot in Florida for reception south of Orlando.
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Why not just build the proper infrastructure with what we know works?
Because taking taxpayer money for “broadband for all” programs and then pocketing the cash, seems to be “working” just fine?
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> Why not just build the proper infrastructure with what we know works?
I tried to do this locally. The government allows the pole owner (electric or telephone usually) to charge $50/mo/pole to the startup that wishes to hang wires.
The owner pays $5/mo in property taxes to the town.
There are exceptions for large corporations that are in the state's good graces.
It's just to keep competition limited to the cartel.
Short answer: corrupt government.
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What about burying underground? I understand poles are cheaper but I consider them quite annoying to see. Poles are also subject to the effects of winds, thunderstorms, hurricanes, etc. Imagine if Puerto Rico had mostly underground cables then the power outage from Hurricane Maria couldn't have been as bad.
Brave's AI is already called Leo (Score:2)
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This was my first thought as well.
Such marketplace confusion!
Arcnet (Score:2)
Just call it what they used to call it in Men in Black
Why Leo? It was better than Cancer or Virgo (Score:1)
Because Virgo sounded too much like Virgin Galactic and Cancer sounded exactly like "DO NOT WANT."