"low-latency links", says the article. I wonder if they consider 500 ms ping to be low, or if they want to replace Geostationary with Low Earth Orbit.

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fidotron 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Getting it to work with one end stationary first sounds like a reasonable development plan. LEO adds a lot of complexity, but with huge benefits.

OTOH the number of engineers that focus on throughput over latency is quite staggering.

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IrishTechie 3 hours ago | parent [-]

I guess if your goal is just to stream aircraft telemetry and black box like recordings then latency may not be high on the agenda.

	▲	connicpu 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Black box data doesn't need that crazy throughput either though. Traditional RF is much easier to get right, and works even when the aircraft starts losing track of where it is and stops being able to track the satellite with its laser
	▲	SiempreViernes 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I think it's the opposite? For small telemetry you want it now, but for the big data products there's no hope of "now" and so you settle for soon.

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pottertheotter an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

I’ll take 500ms ping for those speeds while temporarily on a plane.

	▲	oofbey an hour ago \| parent [-]
		No doubt! I’ve measured literal 5 minute ping times on airplanes. 300,000ms. Where are the buffering the packets!?