Story by David Condos
But for Bahr, the cable running beneath his feet is off-limits. Its owned by a neighboring internet service provider and is merely passing through on its way to a nearby town.
Its just maddening, Bahr said. Were at the end of the line basically.
Bahrs story illustrates just how out-of-reach broadband remains for tens of millions of people in rural America. Nearly 9% of Kansas households roughly 130,000 still dont have access to high-speed internet.
Yet the promise of a future with broadband for all Kansans, no matter how remote, might rest in the wide-open skies over the Bahrs home and a plan to send Wi-Fi to a future Mars colony.
Beaming the internet down from satellites might leapfrog the logistical and financial barriers that leave so many rural homes and those just outside the city limits on the wrong side of the digital divide. But to do that, the next generation of satellite internet service will need to be better than the space-based stuff thats been around for a while.
Existing satellite internet is better than nothing, said Daniel Andresen, a computer science professor at Kansas State University, but thats about all you can say about it.
He said customers often have to deal with web pages that load slowly due to bottlenecked bandwidth and video calls that appear choppy because of high latency, or lag times. They sometimes lose service completely if there is rain or snow.
Left behind
Andresen said Kansans who live in towns even very small towns can generally skip satellite internet and connect their homes with fiber, cable or DSL.
But if somebody wants to live ... two miles outside of town, Andresen said, good luck getting any of the above.
The basic problem is that its not usually worth it to internet providers to string broadband lines out to places where people dont live close to each other. Each mile of fiber costs more than $27,000 to install. That might pay off in Wichita, which has 2,300 potential users per square mile, but not so much in Great Bends Barton County, with only 31 people per square mile.
Andresen says that leaves rural Kansans behind, especially as the pandemic moves so much of Americans personal and professional lives online.
It used to be that, Internet access is kind of nice, but you go into town once a week and use the librarys and its fine, Andresen said. Now, its vital.
New 5G cellular technology might improve wireless internet speeds for some rural homes, but Andresen said its only likely to help someone who already has good 4G coverage. The high-frequency wavelengths that enable 5Gs fast speeds dont travel as far as 4G waves. And a tree or hill in the wrong place could block the signal.
5G could turn kind-of-haves into haves, but wont turn have-nots into haves, Andresen said. You end up with a situation where good connectivity tends to be pretty much no matter how much money youre willing to fling at it unavailable.
But the richest man on the planet, Elon Musk, has a plan to send humans to Mars. And almost accidentally, that plan might just open the door to getting a better YouTube feed to the ranches and farms of Kansas.
To the stars
For Elon Musks aerospace endeavor, SpaceX, the Starlink project is part fundraiser, part test run. The company needs money from internet customers to fund its ambitions in the heavens, like space tourism and colonizing the red planet. SpaceX also wants to deliver high-speed internet to those future Martians who, like the people of rural Kansas, will be spread across a sparsely populated landscape.
Unlike traditional satellites that sit roughly 22,000 miles out into space, Starlink satellites beam data from a mere 340 miles above the Earth. Theoretically, these low-Earth orbit satellites could provide even better speeds than wired internet because light travels 50% faster through the vacuum of space than it does through the glass of fiber-optic cables.
So far, SpaceX has launched about 1,000 satellites floating above a thin strip of the U.S.-Canadian border. Kansans should be able to try Starlink for themselves later this year when SpaceX activates another belt of satellites over the Midwest.
But travel three states to the north of here, and that internet future already exists.
The speeds and the latency theyre advertising appear to be holding true, said North Dakota Chief Technology Officer Duane Schell. So, yeah, theres a lot of excitement about it.
Schell is talking with SpaceX about testing Starlink in state parks and wildlife management areas in North Dakota, where Starlink satellites already cover most of the state. But he also sees it as a way to shore up the future of the states rural economy, from telecommuting to high-tech farming.
Without that broadband, Schell said, youre simply not going to be able to compete.
The space rush
Starlink isnt alone on the mission to bring satellite broadband to remote places like western Kansas. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos hired a former SpaceX executive to lead his companys satellite internet venture, Project Kuiper. HughesNet, already a major satellite internet provider in rural America, partnered with OneWeb to power a network of 650 satellites by the end of this year.
Derek Smashey, a financial analyst with Scout Investments in Kansas City, said satellite internet could eventually serve 15-20% of the population. So, Starlinks $99 monthly fees could cover the projects estimated $10 billion price tag.
It looks to us like that could be a $20 billion-plus dollar market just in the United States alone, Smashey said. I wouldnt want to bet against people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
Eventually, SpaceX plans to build a constellation of Starlink satellites that deliver broadband not only to rural America, but also to arctic research stations, tanker ships at sea and other remote locations around the globe. The company has federal approval to launch 12,000 satellites and has already filed paperwork for 30,000 more 10 times the number in the sky now.
But that worries some people who like the sky the way it is.
It will be everywhere
The thought of having to see the stars through a grid of crawling satellites, thats pretty horrifying to me, said Samantha Lawler, an astronomy professor at the University of Regina in Canada. This isnt like light pollution from a city where you can go camping in the mountains and see the stars perfectly. ... It will be everywhere.
Lawler lives on a farm in rural Saskatchewan, where shes teaching classes via video using a home hotspot similar to what Joey Bahr uses in Kansas. But shes afraid that advancing our connection to the internet could come at the expense of losing our connection to the stars.
Humans have looked up at the stars since the dawn of humanity, Lawler said. Thats just such a huge part of being human that we are very much in danger of losing.
In Barton County, Joey Bahr said living in a place where his three sons can gaze up at the night sky was one of the reasons he and his wife, Anita, moved out here seven years ago. But living here means they have to connect to the internet through a cell tower a few miles away and try to stay under their data cap of 15 gigabytes per month. It would take about six of those gigabytes to stream a single two-hour HD movie.
If they go over that limit, he said their internet speeds can slow down to 600 kilobytes per second roughly 2% of the minimum speed in the federal definition of broadband.
The family reached a breaking point when their son tested positive for COVID-19 in the fall. Bahr and his wife suddenly needed to work from home, and their son used an iPad from school to keep up with his lessons. They decided to spend $200 on a second mobile hotspot just to get through the four-week quarantine.
Its a beautiful place. I love it, Bahr said of their property. Unfortunately, we are in kind of an internet no-mans-land right now.
-30-
David Condos covers western Kansas for High Plains Public Radio and the Kansas News Service. You can follow him on Twitter@davidcondos. The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of Kansas Public Radio, KCUR, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio - focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link toksnewsservice.org.
See the original post here:
How Elon Musk and a Mission to Mars Might Boost Internet Speeds in Rural Kansas - kansaspublicradio.org
- White People Are Going to Colonize Mars, and Other Fears From Today's Campuses - Tablet Magazine - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- Bizarre yogurt experiment could be key to colonizing Mars but there will be disgusting consequences, say... - The US Sun - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- SpaceX Must Build 1,000 Starships In 10 Years To Reach Mars Goal. So Far, 0 Starships Have Made It To Space - Jalopnik - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- A Science Fiction Writer in Space: Sands of Mars by Arthur C. Clarke - tor.com - June 30th, 2023 [June 30th, 2023]
- Increase your crypto portfolio performance 10X in 2023 with ... - Analytics Insight - June 30th, 2023 [June 30th, 2023]
- Happy Birthday Elon Musk: Spotlight on the Remarkable Life of a ... - Transcontinental Times - June 30th, 2023 [June 30th, 2023]
- Jony Ive's latest gig is the seal for King Charles's space project ... - AppleInsider - June 30th, 2023 [June 30th, 2023]
- Top 5 Technologies That Will Make Mars Habitable - Jumpstart Media - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- 10 Best Paradox Interactive Games - TheGamer - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- Hanwha propels Nuri rocket project - The Investor - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- Do Androids Dream of Terrible Streets? | Compact Mag - Compact Mag - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- All about Mars colonization and news 2023 - From Space With Love - March 4th, 2023 [March 4th, 2023]
- New NASA Nuclear Rocket Plan Aims to Get to Mars in Just 45 Days - January 23rd, 2023 [January 23rd, 2023]
- Mars - Wikipedia - January 22nd, 2023 [January 22nd, 2023]
- Mars Gives Snow an Alien Twist - The Atlantic - January 22nd, 2023 [January 22nd, 2023]
- Will China's Zhurong Mars rover wake from worrying hibernation ... - January 22nd, 2023 [January 22nd, 2023]
- A Mars rover scientist is about to scale carbon-oxygen batteries - January 22nd, 2023 [January 22nd, 2023]
- Next Mars Orbiter - Wikipedia - November 25th, 2022 [November 25th, 2022]
- Occupy Mars: The Game on Steam - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- Life on Mars - Wikipedia - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- Coeur dAlene student selected to be on the first high school-aged team to train in the Mars Desert Research Station - KREM.com - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- Marscoin - October 23rd, 2022 [October 23rd, 2022]
- How Elon Musk used sci-fi and social media to shape his narrative : It's Been a Minute - NPR - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- New ghost tour unearths the grisly side of Old Montreal this Halloween season - The Suburban Newspaper - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Competing in the new 'Space Race' - Royal Aeronautical Society - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- The Martian (film) - Wikipedia - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Elon Musk Racing To Colonize Mars, He Says This Will 'Destroy All Life On Earth' - PayPal Holdings (NASDA - Benzinga - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- The Origin of the Hollow Earth Theory - History of Yesterday - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Why sending a Native American into space is a big deal - WBUR News - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Going to Space Will Not Save Us - Jezebel - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Its Science Over Capitalism: Kim Stanley Robinson and the Imperative of Hope - The MIT Press Reader - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Dubais space center to simulate life on Mars in the Metaverse - Al Arabiya English - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Cosmic Cowboy is a space odyssey for 2022 - The Boston Globe - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Trump pushed for nuclear testing on the moon during final months of presidency - Salon - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Whitest Kids U Know Wrapping Production on Animated Movie Mars, Final WKUK Project After Trevor Moores Death - Variety - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- NASA has created oxygen from the atmosphere of Mars, will the dream of colonizing now come true? - News84Media - News84Media.com - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Here Are The Top 7 Space Organizations Of The World! - Jagran Josh - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Frank Drake's Legacy, Or: Are We All Alone In The Universe? - Hackaday - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Deliver Us Mars Tugs on the Heart Strings in New Story Trailer - Push Square - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- New water map of Mars shows potential landing spots on the planet - TNW - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Stranded: Alien Dawn is the next game from the Surviving Mars devs - Shacknews - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Launches: Life in Venus clouds? Rocket Lab to check - EarthSky - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- How Europe's Space Industry Could Blast Off - Center for European Policy Analysis - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- STARMUS V: Lunar dust allergy, alternatives to planet Earth and how the festival came to Armenia - ARMENPRESS - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- When will the first baby be born in space? - Buffalo News - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- 20 Best Xbox One Space Games To Explore The Great Unknown - Gameranx - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Japanese craft brewery and tech company to simulate making beer on Moon and Mars - SoraNews24 - July 29th, 2022 [July 29th, 2022]
- The Moon Archive Meant To Preserve Life On Earth - Twisted Sifter - July 29th, 2022 [July 29th, 2022]
- Fireside Chat With Everdome CEO Robert Gryn on the Nurturing of the Metaverse in a Hyperrealistic Format - Tech Times - July 29th, 2022 [July 29th, 2022]
- More People Need to Watch The Best Sci-Fi Show on Prime Video - CNET - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- The CAPSTONE Mission Launches A New Era In The Colonization Of The Moon - Science 2.0 - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- Bedu announces its second curated art drop - My Startup World - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- Mykhailo Federov wishes Elon Musk on his birthday, says 'whole world has chance to live' - Techstory - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- From Autonomous Cities to US Presidency: The Future Is Now Film Shows What Blockchain Leaders Think About Governance - Geeks World Wide - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- Elon Musk Plans To Launch Thousands of 394 Feet Tall Rockets To Mars - Wccftech - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- For All Mankind season 3: everything we know - What To Watch - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- 5 Up-and-Coming DOGE Projects that Might be Worth Your Money - NewsBTC - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- My idea for a new era: The town hall from TED2022 - TED Blog - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- Elon Musk Sounds Alarm Over 'Population Collapse' Again - Benzinga - Benzinga - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- Star Wars: How The Movie Would Have Changed With George Lucas's Original Script - Zyri - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- LongHash Ventures Partners With Protocol Labs to Launch the Third LongHashX Accelerator Filecoin Cohort - Crypto Briefing - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- Why we should colonize Mars (and other planets and the satellites too) - May 23rd, 2022 [May 23rd, 2022]
- Chinese rover makes surprise discovery about liquid water on Mars - Big Think - May 23rd, 2022 [May 23rd, 2022]
- The apocalypse after the apocalypse - newframe.com - May 23rd, 2022 [May 23rd, 2022]
- OPINION: The 'good old days' are what we make them - Anchorage Daily News - May 23rd, 2022 [May 23rd, 2022]
- A new stage for Mars: Web3 colonization of Mars has begun - Digital Journal - May 21st, 2022 [May 21st, 2022]
- WATCH: Apple TV Plus Releases Trailer For Season 3 Of 'For All Mankind' - We Got This Covered - May 21st, 2022 [May 21st, 2022]
- 30 Of the best fried foods around the world - KAKE - May 21st, 2022 [May 21st, 2022]
- Crypto.com Spent Its Way to the Top. Then the Market Crashed. Now What? - GQ - May 21st, 2022 [May 21st, 2022]
- The US And England Will Never Agree On These Foods - Mashed - May 21st, 2022 [May 21st, 2022]
- Could Lunar Soil be the Key to Reaching Mars? - The National Herald - May 20th, 2022 [May 20th, 2022]
- NASA will use the metaverse to build VR scenarios for Mars missions - Interesting Engineering - May 11th, 2022 [May 11th, 2022]
- 10 Best New Teen Movies of 2022 Most Anticipated Teen Movies 2022 - Seventeen - May 11th, 2022 [May 11th, 2022]
- SpaceX mission returns to Earth | WORLD - WORLD News Group - May 11th, 2022 [May 11th, 2022]
- Wealthy nations are carving up space and its riches and leaving other countries behind - Jacksonville Journal-Courier - May 11th, 2022 [May 11th, 2022]
- All Elon Musk's SpaceX rockets revealed with disasters that turned into blazes - The US Sun - May 11th, 2022 [May 11th, 2022]
- Introducing the 'Mobile Gantry' 3D printer that could facilitate the future colonization of Mars - 3D Printing Industry - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- The Billionaire Space Race: Should We Be Worried? - New University - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- Martian rocks may give insight into the Red Planets violent history - BGR - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- Galactic Civilizations IV: Core worlds, colonies, and colonization guide - PC Invasion - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]