Internet
satellite companies, such as Starlink, OneWeb and Blue Origin (Amazon), aim at
providing global internet access via satellites. This will bring many benefits
to citizens, isolated regions and the global economy, but what if internet
satellites collide with other satellites? What if an internet satellite company
becomes the next internet monopoly? What if satellite debris hits people on the
ground?
Throughout
history, humans have developed ways of communicating and transferring knowledge
over long distances, from transmitting public information via smoke signals and
sending private messages via homing pigeons to developing modern
telecommunication technologies, with the internet at the top of the list. The
internet is a global network of interconnected computers that communicate with
each other by sending and receiving signals. Although the military used the
internet as early asthe 1960s (ARPANET), it took until the 1990s to
commercialise the network for the public. The internet is provided at local level
by different organisations that serve limited geographical areas either via
wire (fibre optic, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless connections. The
organisations that connect end-users to the internet are known as internet
service providers (ISPs).
Starlink
aims at providing worldwide high-speed internet access via thousands of
satellites. The project is run by an American aerospace company, SpaceX, which
plans to serve North America by 2020 and the rest of the globe by 2021. In
October 2019, paperwork for an additional 30 000 satellites was filed, on top
of 12 000 that have already been approved by the United States Federal
Communications Commission (FCC). Once approved, the FCC will submit these
filings to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations
agency that coordinates telecommunications at international level. Although
launching a great number of satellites was hitherto considered an expensive
option, SpaceX benefits from its relatively cheap launchers due to its success
in developing reusable rockets. The revenue from Starlink will be invested in
SpaceX and CEO Elon Musk's goal of colonising Mars. Europe has long been
interested in Mars exploration, and the European Union supports missions to
Mars via the European Space Agency (Aurora and ExoMars).
Potential impacts and developments
With
the explosive spread of digital transformation, the internet has become a vital
element of human life, from contacting people and shopping online to
controlling internet-connected devices. Nevertheless, half of the world's
population still has no internet access, and many areas in the world, including
oceans and remote islands, are not easily accessible. Global internet access
would therefore not only connect isolated regions of the planet to the internet
but also provide dense cities with high-speed internet of low latency (the
delay between sending a signal and receiving a response). This would have a
positive impact in various sectors, including the following examples.
· Every internet of things(IoT) device needs the
internet to communicate. For example, medical devices could access the internet
to contact an ambulance, and self-driving cars could access the internet to
pick the best route.
· Rural areas, which historically suffer from a
lack of services, could accelerate their development. Moreover, children in
these areas would have access to online education.
·
In the ocean, fishermen and sailors could access
the internet easily, and the availability of the internet would help in ocean
governance.
· Internet coverage in farming would allow for
more information transfer, and increase capabilities for planting, harvesting
and other activities in the food cycle.
·
Global internet access would open new markets
for internet technologies, as well as boost the creative industries. It is
worth mentioning that internet satellites could be a cheaper solution for 5G
deployment than replacing ground infrastructure. For example, it is estimated
that shifting to 5G in the USA using fibre optics will cost US$130–150 billion,
whereas the entire Starlink project will only cost around US$10 billion.
Some
technical risks arise from the life cycle of satellites and the nature of
satellite communications. Signals transferred in an open medium (air or space) are
easier to interrupt and could be collected by unintended receivers, although
decrypting the signal would have to take place before accessing useful
information. At the end of its life, an internet satellite turns into
uncontrolled space debris that contaminates space and can potentially cause
collisions. While there are projects that aim at removing debris from space,
such as RemoveDEBRIS and ESA ADR, Starlink satellites are designed to avoid
contamination of space by burning up in Earth's atmosphere, which results,
however, in fragments that could reach the ground. In addition, astronomers are
concerned that the growing number of satellites obscures their view of the
Universe.
Since
covering the globe with internet via satellites implies no escape from exposure
to electromagnetic waves, there are concerns about the health impacts of the
radiation. Although the relation between cancer and telecommunication waves is
controversial, it is agreed that the risks depend on the type of wave and the
intensity of radiation. International standards, set by the International
Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), define radiation
exposure limits. The EU rules on electromagnetic fields are laid down in
Council Recommendation 1999/519/EC, based on the ICNIRP guidelines.
Data
has grown exponentially in recent years, and globalising internet connectivity
would boost the already tremendous growth of data. However, storing massive
amounts of data comes at a cost: it consumes energy, much of which contributes
to carbon emissions. Moreover, the machine-learning industry is hungry to
develop what can be sold as artificial intelligence by mining these data using
intensive computing power. Having thousands of satellites in space would
intersect with European space projects and would require coordination of
satellites in order to avoid collisions between European and internet
satellites. In September 2019, the European Space Agency performed an evasive
manoeuvre to avoid a potential collision with SpaceX, demonstrating an urgent
need for space traffic management with more intelligent control.
As
internet infrastructure (cell towers or fibre optic cables) is expensive to
build, it is not easy to break the monopoly of the current players in the
market. If successful, internet satellites would break the present ISP
monopoly, but might perhaps replace it with another monopoly. A global internet
satellite service would also weaken the potential for internet censorship
compared to the present situation, where local authorities control internet
access by blocking websites or even shutting down the internet via national
ISPs.
Anticipatory policy-making
As
internet satellites are not deployed in air space, but in outer space, which
according to international law, is free for use by all states and thus not
subject to a claim of sovereignty. However, international space law enforces
liability for any damage caused by space objects and obliges states to avoid
harmful contamination.
It
is advisable that future EU space policy consider the swift development of
internet satellites. It is vital that EU legislation is reviewed with an eye on
the potential risks such as the health impacts, the internet monopoly, signal
disturbances by destructive interference, and the consequences of satellite
debris. Some of these issues (i.e. signal disturbances and satellite debris)
were addressed in the Commission's proposal for the Space Programme in 2018. A
critical issue is the balance between the risks and gains, especially the
tradeoff between the security of the European Union and catching up with
competitive technological advances. The security aspects include ensuring the
robustness of communications and the ISPs' compliance with the EU's General
Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Additionally, handling soft impacts is also
needed, perhaps by pushing ICT industries towards cleaner energy.
