Satellite communications
AST SpaceMobile company announced the successful organization of data exchange between the BlueWalker 3 satellite and standard smartphones. The experiment was conducted in Hawaii, during the installation of the connection, a download speed of 10 Mbit/s was achieved. This opens a new milestone in the use of the Internet and adds a huge number of problems to astronomers.
The experiment was conducted with the help of the American telecom operator AT &T, but in addition to it, more and more companies in the United States are interested in the idea of directly connecting a mobile phone to a satellite for Internet access. Previously, this required specially modified phones, and the first successes with conventional devices were achieved by AST SpaceMobile this year. Now data exchange at acceptable speeds is also available for conventional phones, and at the next stage, the authors of the experiment want to achieve data transmission at the level of the 5G standard. BlueWalker 3 is an experimental satellite created specifically for testing the technology of direct connection to phones from low orbit. It has one of the largest antennas with an area of 65 sq.m., which is why the object is very bright in the blackness of space. This greatly hinders astronomers, and it is even difficult to imagine what will happen when the technology becomes mass and many telecom operators launch similar satellites.
Satellite communications
Alexander Martynenko
