TechHub: SpaceX Creating Global Internet, Making Data Talk Back & More

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How SpaceX Plans to Bring Fast Internet to the Whole World

After multiple delays, SpaceX launched two small prototype satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday, Feb. 22 around 9:17 AM EST. This is what Elon Musk is claiming to be the beginning of a new way to connect humanity.

The launch will carry the larger Paz telecommunications satellite, with the two smaller prototype satellites, named Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b, as part of the relatively secret project known as Starlink.

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Current satellite internet services rely on a handful of big satellites in geostationary orbit over 22,000 miles above Earth, according to CNet.

Signals and data travel back and forth between satellites and customers’ satellite dishes, as well as larger ground stations on Earth, to bring internet into homes. A major problem is that in rural areas very few options are available.

Traveling thousands of miles from orbit can cause high levels of latency when using satellite internet, making things like video calls and gaming to be extremely difficult when there’s lag and delay in the line of data.

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Starlink aims to use satellites at a lower orbit to cut down on lag time, but will require way more satellites to be in orbit due to them being closer to Earth. The closer proximity cuts the area they can “see,” so more will be necessary in order to cover the entire planet’s radius.

According to SpaceX’s application to the Federal Communications Commission, the plan for phase one is to deploy 4,425 smaller satellites in low Earth orbit between 684 miles and 823 miles above us.

Once the first 800 are up and running, it will be enough to provide initial U.S. and international coverage for broadband services. The remaining satellite adds will expand international coverage and add capacity worldwide, with plans to add over 7,500 satellites later on at around 211 miles in altitude.

Full service internet “probably won’t be up and running until the middle of the next decade,” according to Musk.

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Getting Your Data to Talk Back

It’s like Alexa for operational technology.

Historian users – it’s time to take it to the next level.

You’ve been connecting and collecting data for years, but it’s time to get answers back and really talk to your data. Just like Alexa answers questions about songs, the weather or trivia, GrayMatter’s Innovation as a Service offering will get your data to talk back to you.

This two way conversation with data is crucial as you look to create new revenue models for your business.

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What is GrayMatter’s Innovation as a Service? 
In a new offering, GrayMatter is helping you architect new business models by first discovering and improving your operational asset connectivity.

Next we help you see what’s possible through a digital roadmap, then we design the right components of a platform or solution to target your specific business problem.

Finally, we demonstrate that design and prove it’s working to address the real problem and how it can be scaled across the business.

Start Now
Say you’re the project manager for an analytics project. Your boss is asking if “you have big data yet?” But you really don’t know where to start. We can take some of your data to start creating economic models for your analysis. Within days you have a business case to share.

[ut_button color=”red” target=”_blank” link=”https://graymattersystems.com/innovation-as-a-service/” size=”medium” ]Get Started[/ut_button]

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U.S. Manufacturing Output Still Advancing

U.S. factory output was unchanged in January for a second month after health advances consistent with ongoing expansion in the industry, according to Federal Reserve data released.

Lower taxes and a pickup in overseas markets are spurring business investment, with steady hiring, rising home equity and elevated confidence also indicative of sustained consumer demand said Industry Week.

The Institute for Supply Management’s index showed that factories expanded more than forecast in January, and rivaling the fastest pace in more than 13 years.

U.S. manufacturing makes up 75% of the total industrial production, and accounts for 12% of the U.S. economy as a whole.