As SpaceX's Starlink project continues to develop, the United States military has commissioned a study. Recently published, it was interested in the possibility of using the project's satellites to deploy a system more efficient than GPS.
The least we can say is that Elon Musk is on all fronts. However, the person concerned pursues each of his projects with the same determination. In early September 2020, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket to deliver 60 new satellites as part of the Starlink project. Remember that there is talk of deploying at least 12,000 in low orbit . The goal ? Provide very high speed internet access to the entire planet. Today, the total number of these instruments in orbit is 713.
As explained in a post in the MIT technology Review of September 28, 2020, the United States military is behind a study about the Starlink project. Study by Todd Humphreys and Peter Iannucci of the University of Texas at Austin Radio Navigation Laboratory could give satellites a new purpose by Elon Musk. It would be a question of deploying a navigation assistant more powerful than the current GPS.
The research duo believes that satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) can promote the emergence of a new system ten times more accurate than GPS . In addition, this system would be less impacted by interference. However, building a satellite network has a certain cost and there lies the interest in the Starlink project. The researchers believe that a simple update software on the satellites would suffice.
In their study, scientists announced rather surprising figures. In addition to ten times greater accuracy, it is about providing continuous service to 99.8% of the world's population. In order to achieve this, it would be enough to use only 1% of the link capacity of the Starlink satellites and 0.5% of their energy!
This study doesn't seem to please everyone, especially Brian Manning – CEO of Xona, a company working on a competitor navigation project . The leader was skeptical about the feasibility of the manipulation mentioned in the study. The person concerned indicated that his company had already explored this avenue in the past. According to him, commercial and technical capabilities don't really make sense, which is why his company is working on an independent satellite constellation.
Anyway, Todd Humphreys and Peter Iannucci are sure their idea is a good one. The duo now hope that Elon Musk will understand this work and its potential. We imagine that the scientists, supported by the military, will submit a request to the boss of SpaceX in the near future.
