Good article about SpaceX attempts at getting Canadian government
approvals to operate.

> https://downup.io/spacexs-journey-to-canada-two-years-of-meetings-privy-council-involvement-pestering-ised-for-regular-updates/

Note: in successive budgets, Canada has been handing out hundreds of
millions in subsidies to Telesat (formerly govt owned but has been
privatize forever to Hiughes Aircraft) to STUDY project to deploy LEO
constellation.

Appears the government is friendly only to certain lobbysts.

SpaceX did get the required approvals to use the spectrum and become a
telecom provider, and it now has 1 base station in Newfoundland. (rest
of beta service in canada is serves from Spacex base stations in
northern USA).

Telesat says it can do it with 300 satellites at medium orbit, but I
have to wonder how many launches it would require and how much they will
need to pay for those.

SpaceX gets nearly free launches by re-using the launcher and now has
proven its ability to launch frequently. (what remains to be seen is
whether they can become profitable without grossly oversubscribing the
service). But at their current launch frequency, it appears they will be
able to replace satellites as fast as they drop down.

BTW, Canadian beta testers get IPs that geolocate to Canada even if they
connect through a US base station. However, due to Patriot Act, all
traffic can legally be spied on by the 3 letter agencies in USA (foreign
traffic) without a warrant.

On 2021-05-11 2:48 PM, JF Mezei wrote:

> Telesat says it can do it with 300 satellites at medium orbit, but I
> have to wonder how many launches it would require and how much they will
> need to pay for those.
>

Bingo. And why Canad will be using Starlink and not Teledesic from 20
years ago.

Even if you wanted to launch them yourself, who would you use to launch
them? ArianeSpace? China? Russia? At pre-SpaceX prices? I remember the
number from the 1990s was $250 million per launch. Sunk Teledesic.

> SpaceX gets nearly free launches by re-using the launcher and now has
> proven its ability to launch frequently. (what remains to be seen is
> whether they can become profitable without grossly oversubscribing the
> service). But at their current launch frequency, it appears they will be
> able to replace satellites as fast as they drop down.
>
> BTW, Canadian beta testers get IPs that geolocate to Canada even if they
> connect through a US base station. However, due to Patriot Act, all
> traffic can legally be spied on by the 3 letter agencies in USA (foreign
> traffic) without a warrant.
>

All true and doesn't require the Patriot Act to remain true since Canada
is not the US. You can use military grade encrypted VPN if it bugs you
and Starlink supports it.

Dave

On 2021-05-11 22:35, David Spain wrote:

> Bingo. And why Canad will be using Starlink and not Teledesic from 20
> years ago.

Telesat apparently doesn't intend to sell retail, but rather sell
uplinks to an wireline ISPs in a town. (Or perhaps get ISPs to resell
the service direct to home with Telesat not doing retail).

> Even if you wanted to launch them yourself, who would you use to launch
> them? ArianeSpace? China? Russia? At pre-SpaceX prices? I remember the
> number from the 1990s was $250 million per launch. Sunk Teledesic.

And that applies to any other LEO satellite constellation wannabe.
Telesat "make them higher orbit" is smart because that means thet last
longer.

Someone competing against Spacex at same altitude will need to pay the
big bucks for constantly launches to replenish the constellation.

Even SpaceX may find its cheap launches expensive for the types of
revenues Starlink will generate (and cost of base stations etc).

JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> writes:

> On 2021-05-11 22:35, David Spain wrote:
>
>> Bingo. And why Canad will be using Starlink and not Teledesic from 20
>> years ago.
>
> Telesat apparently doesn't intend to sell retail, but rather sell
> uplinks to an wireline ISPs in a town. (Or perhaps get ISPs to resell
> the service direct to home with Telesat not doing retail).
>
>> Even if you wanted to launch them yourself, who would you use to launch
>> them? ArianeSpace? China? Russia? At pre-SpaceX prices? I remember the
>> number from the 1990s was $250 million per launch. Sunk Teledesic.
>
> And that applies to any other LEO satellite constellation wannabe.
> Telesat "make them higher orbit" is smart because that means thet last
> longer.

And maybe need fewer of them. We'll see. Not holding my breath.

>
> Someone competing against Spacex at same altitude will need to pay the
> big bucks for constantly launches to replenish the constellation.
>

Someone competing against SpaceX had better have the equivalent of
Starship technology to do it with, or forgettaboutit.

>
> Even SpaceX may find its cheap launches expensive for the types of
> revenues Starlink will generate (and cost of base stations etc).

I seriously doubt that.

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/CMCSA/comcast/revenue

Dave