14 Comments
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Shankar Narayan's avatar

Dont know why i wrote it like this. I kept playing with the structure. Hope it came out well and I did not mess up. Thanks.

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Bruce Maslack's avatar

Informative and you did not mess up. Thank you.

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Shankar Narayan's avatar

Thx, Bruce.

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Craig Ewing's avatar

The fact that we're stuck with a choice between Musk and Bezos speaks volumes about the state of the world. Nations no longer define the political realm when billionaires hold all the cards.

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Shankar Narayan's avatar

yep.

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TheDurableDon's avatar

There is an alternative: nationalize starlink. This is a national security emergency, and eminent domain still applies. A sensible administration would look seriously at this alternative. Musk took the risk, and he should get compensation. But he shouldn’t hold the keys to the kingdom. It’s become a strategic asset, not just a commercial endeavor. Things change.

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Dr. Steven Quest's avatar

Any thoughts on where Eutelsat fits into this picture? Unlike Kuiper and Starlink, not owned by oligarchs.

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Shankar Narayan's avatar

Eutelsat remains EUs best option. They do not have the deep pockets. So need orders from Germany, UK and other EU nations, then make a secondary offer in the capital markets, raise money and drop that money to build out their own constellation. There are things moving, but the timeline Europe is looking to build this capacity is way too much. Just take the risk and back two different companies, both based in Europe.

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Robot Bender's avatar

Ariane?

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Shankar Narayan's avatar

Ariane is the family of European launch vehicles developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and operated by Arianespace.

Eutelsat uses Ariane to launch its satellites. Starlink + SpaceX. Yes, you need both.

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billy mccarthy's avatar

will we have a bandwith war between operators

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James Aldridge's avatar

Shankar, how does Eutelsat figure into this?

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Shankar Narayan's avatar

Eutelsat remains EUs best option. They do not have the deep pockets. So need orders from Germany, UK and other EU nations, then make a secondary offer in the capital markets, raise money and drop that money to build out their own constellation. There are things moving, but the timeline Europe is looking to build this capacity is way too much. Just take the risk and back two different companies, both based in Europe

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Sundar Srinivasan's avatar

The Pentagon should be buying exclusively certain bandwidths and exercise operational control, yeah ? It’s no different from buying something from Lockheed.

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