Satellite internet failed 20 years ago. But this time is different.

China and the US are racing to offer internet from space, with Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the lead

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Satellites that will form part of SpaceX's Starlink constellation await release into orbit from a Falcon 9 rocket on May 24. (Picture: SpaceX)

Published: 5:00am, 18 Jun 2020Updated: 3:32pm, 18 Jun 2020

Satellite internet has been around for more than two decades. But now the technology may finally be ready to deliver on its promise: Affordable high-speed internet for all.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX may be closest to achieving this dream. The company recently showed off a successful test of the Starlink system, which relies on a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). SpaceX isn’t alone: China has also been accelerating the rollout of its own LEO constellations. The country even designated satellite internet as a type of “new infrastructure” to receive greater government support.

The concept of satellite internet itself is not new, but relatively few people have used it since commercial services started in the mid-1990s. Its main selling point is the potential to reach remote areas anywhere on Earth; places that are either too expensive or too difficult to connect via cable.

But past attempts at satellite internet service suffered from high cost and relatively slow service. Satellite internet was something you used because you had no other choice. But new technology means companies like SpaceX hope that consumers will soon choose to use satellite internet.

A rendering of a Starlink satellite in low Earth orbit. (Picture: SpaceX)

The difference? LEO satellites. Older systems relied on satellites in geostationary orbit, 22,000 miles away from Earth. But LEO satellites can be anywhere between 200 and 1,200 miles above the surface, dramatically cutting down on latency.

That’s why LEO satellite internet was actually proposed as early as 1990, when Teledesic was founded. The US-based company, famously backed by Microsoft’s Bill Gates and telecom billionaire Craig McCaw, planned to launch 840 satellites to offer global broadband internet. But it fell apart in 2002, having launched just one test satellite.