Silicon Valley Space Week organized by Satnews Events and held in Silicon Valley, California  at the end of October, covered a variety of topics, as would be expected, but for me the discussions around Direct-to-Device (D2D) were the ones that stood out the most.

Nathan de Ruiter, Partner and Managing Director Novaspace, opened this year’s World Space Business Week (WSBW), held as usual in Paris, with an interesting analogy.  He compared Starlink to Apple, and the rest of the industry to Android.  Not only is it an interesting analogy, it is one that cropped up many times, during WSBW and also during Strategies in Satellite Ground Systems (SSGS), sometimes explicitly and other times indirectly.

The primary benefit of multi-orbit interoperability is to be able to guarantee the connection to the network under any circumstances, including user location, motion and timing of demand for service. Also, the immediate choice of satellite or orbit may be based on the cost of the connection and data transfer. Herein, we identify alternatives to achieve multi-orbit networks and rate them as to their capability, feasibility and costs.

SpaceX and its founder, whose innovations transformed the commercial Space business from a slumber deeper than even the makers of Melatonin promise, will surpass four million subscribers for its Starlink satellite broadband service by the time you finish this article.  The leader of the Digital Age’s Ford Motors with thrusters has, according to its president, Industry Hall of Fame inductee Gwynne Shotwell (https://tinyurl.com/nhc9nb6s), also produced one million terminals in less than 365 days at a facility deep in the heart of Texas.

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Randall Barney