Why does LEO satellite become a new hot spot in science and technology?

According to the planning of this project, Amazon will launch 3,236 low-earth orbit satellites to provide low-latency and high-speed broadband network services for people living in the area from 56 degrees north latitude to 56 degrees south latitude (accounting for 95% of the global population).

The joining of Amazon, coupled with the frequent actions of the capital market and technology giants in the past two years, for example, Musk Space Exploration Technology Company launched two test satellites last year, and OneWeb invested by Sun Zhengyi launched six satellites last month. Other companies such as Boeing, Canadian operator Telesat, Facebook, china galaxy Aerospace, etc. They are all "competing for the sky", and * * * has promoted the surge of "space Internet".

Before figuring out what the "space internet" is, it is necessary for us to review how the LEO satellite constellation gradually changed from a commercial rookie to a "sewer" project.

In fact, as early as 1980s, communication satellite technology began to be applied in the field of personal communication.

With the help of operators such as Inmarsat, Inmarsat and International Mobile Satellite Company, ordinary consumers can also use satellite phones to make calls in areas where the ground communication network is difficult to cover, such as the sea and no man's land.

At this time, some entrepreneurs saw the hidden great commercial value and participated in the construction of satellite companies. Representative examples are Teledesic sponsored by Bill Gates, Iridium project of Motorola and so on.

Contradiction between LEO satellite communication and ground communication operators. At this time, satellite communication operators and ground communication operators are still in a state of incompatibility, but the construction of satellite communication network lags far behind the development speed of mobile phone terminals and 2G networks, and is quickly surpassed by mobile phone networks, leading to the bankruptcy of many satellite enterprises and plans.

The contradiction between the high operating cost of R&D and ordinary consumers. Both system development and satellite launch require high costs, so the voice communication services provided by satellite operators are extremely expensive. Even now, they are only valuable in special environments such as ocean cruises, and it is difficult to attract more paying users or benefit people in areas without network coverage.