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Space: The next internet

2005-09-11 14:36:19.21268+00 by meuon 1 comments

I am starting to grok[Wiki] that, for many of the same reasons, Space(tm) is following the path of the internet and becoming commercialized. Unlike the 'net, however, where you must play reasonably well with others to be a functional part of it. Such constraints are not the same in space, and commercial entities of various (multiple even) nationalities may soon run into problems like: 2 companies both want to place and operate a satellite in a particular sweet spot for communications, and the one that was there just got knocked out of orbit somehow. As companies like Bigelow Aerospace and SpaceX pick up where NASA was, and as other countries foster similiar private industry, I will hope they play together well in Outer Space.

[ related topics: Space & Astronomy Astronomy Heinlein Net Culture ]

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#Comment Re: made: 2005-09-13 22:41:48.427388+00 by: petronius

Evenutaull countries will have to get involved. For example, there is an international convention that governs radio frequency assignments. At some point it makes sense to come up with a system to govern the spectrum to avoid stepping on each other's toes.

But then there is the issue of capability. If you can get a rocket up there, you have already seized the high ground. When cheaper rockets come along, it gets interesting. Remember when countries enforced a three-mile limit to their sovereignty? Why 3 miles? Because that was the range of a cannonball.