Episode 92 - The thing about Starlink and "Space Internet"

Solid State Podcast

A couple short years ago I sat down in this very chair, in front of this computer, and recorded the intro for an episode of this show. It would have been a pretty normal “day ending in Y” had it not been for the rising sound of wind outside and the fact that I couldn’t see through my office window due to the solid metal storm shutters in place.

Hurricane Ian was mere hours away from its historic landfill just miles from where I sit. I remain grateful to this day for every one of those miles, as they were in large part the difference in my ability to consider myself a responder and not a victim of what was about to come for my home.

We talked that day about “disaster tech” and the kind of gear and gadgets we would always recommend to have around for just such en event. Solar generators, cellular hotspots, and the like were all on tap. But less than twenty four hours later, my own solar generator steadfastly keeping my phone and laptop charged and at the ready, what became immediately clear was that with all the backup power in the world, the mission critical tools of our trade were effectively paperweights without one key lifeline… the internet.

This is obviously no great revelation, the reliance of business and frankly day-to-day life in America has been near wholly reliant on internet access for many years at this point. But to have it effectively and so completely disappear in what felt last an instant was technological whiplash nonetheless. People would huddle in groups at a nearby Target because one bar of cell signal was allegedly working, others would send SMS texts from internet-enabled vantage points to others that had no such access to provide sorely needed weather, recovery, and resource updates.

It wasn’t until far too long after Ian had moved on that a relatively new option started to appear in some places we sorely needed it most… a rectangle piece of metal and plastic, emblazoned with the word “Starlink”, and a single Ethernet cable coming out the other end with a promise of restoring communications for those that needed it most in a time where minutes counted for hours.

Thankfully this morning, there’s no wind to be heard and I can clearly see the beautiful morning through my un-shuttered window. But, in all reality, it will happen again. This time, though, in at least one small but very important way, we’ll be ready…