Low Earth orbit

This isn't science fiction, it's happening now.

Today we'll be talking about low earth orbit satellites or LEO for short and why all of a sudden everyone in tech, policy and the industry is paying so much attention to them.

Joining us today is a member of the ITU Secretary General's Youth Advisory Board, Hamza Hameed, who works across space policy and global connectivity.

Welcome, Hamza.

So airplanes, for example, fly at about 32,000 feet.

Above that are high altitude platforms that are moving around.

Above that is what's called the very low Earth orbit environment, where certain companies have experimented with different types of objects that provide different services.

Beyond that, LEO, lower Earth orbit, between 200 to 2,000 kilometers.

So I don't care if you're designing a glass bottle or you're designing the next, I don't know, satellite for...

Low Earth Orbit communications.

Everything is designed digitally.

Now, I suppose the thing that...

These particular satellites, so many of them that are tracked in orbit, some space junk and other rocket bodies.

More precisely, 95% of active satellites orbit in low Earth orbit, that is orbital parameters that are, let's say, lower than 1,200 miles straight up into space.

And to continue to add to that number, SpaceX Starlink now has some 11,000 active satellites and many more to come, and so does Jeff Bezos and other nations around the world.

Simply, satellite technology has changed our lives in many ways, but the threat of space warfare sadly lies in the distance, according to many.

I mean, this is fascinating.

And for people out there that really don't see this in their everyday lives, this is amazing because from the side of astronomy, when you look in the nighttime sky, if you could see in the so-called 3D vision that you don't have, obviously we don't have it, but the Earth is really surrounded by a big belt if you could see it in the sky, and you know so much more about that.

But what's happening right now, Robert, as you know best, the proliferation of low Earth orbit is becoming so crowded that...

There's not a traffic cop up there to monitor this right now.

And for people out there that really don't see this in their everyday lives, this is amazing because from the side of astronomy, when you look in the nighttime sky, if you could see in the so-called 3D vision that you don't have, obviously we don't have it, but the Earth is really surrounded by a big belt if you could see it in the sky, and you know so much more about that.

But what's happening right now, Robert, as you know best, the proliferation of low Earth orbit is becoming so crowded that There's not a traffic cop up there to monitor this right now.

And the illusion, if not the potential for space warfare, we'll get into it because there's stories that you and I can share with the audience about some Russian satellites that are moving in on some other satellites and maybe one ejects something out.

Who knows? But we want to be positive.

You did, and satellites is with an F.

Ah, yes, there you go.

And also, as we mentioned before, if you'd like to learn a little bit more about what's going on in low Earth orbit, we're going to give a shout out to Orbital.

Radar.com.

We honestly do, and there's a lot happening behind the scenes, I know that, but we're not there yet.

LEO, or Low Earth Orbit Satellite Communication, will in fact be a huge advantage to us.

So the reason why they're not a competitor at all is because we do not provide any last mile communication ourselves.

We take, as mentioned, we take the last mile connectivity that's available or the underlay that's available at the best price and the optimal speed at a particular site.