Iridium operates about 66 LEO satellites at roughly 780 km, offering truly global coverage including the poles with a one-way latency around 0.1–0.2 seconds. Inmarsat uses 3–4 GEO satellites at about 35,786 km, delivering near-global coverage (roughly ±70° latitude) with about 0.5 second latency, and IsatPhone 2 offers up to 8 hours of talk and…
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Starlink is SpaceX’s satellite-based broadband internet service, and by 2025 the constellation has launched over 7,500 satellites with about 6,750 active in orbit. The satellites orbit in low Earth orbit at roughly 550 km altitude, delivering typical download speeds of 50–200+ Mbps and latency around 20–40 ms. SpaceX began launching Starlink in 2019, and by…
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Traditional GEO satellite internet sends data roughly 22,000 miles to a satellite and back, yielding a round-trip latency of about 600–800 ms. Satellite internet can reach virtually anywhere with a clear view of the sky, including most of the continental United States. HughesNet uses geostationary satellites and advertises speeds up to 25 Mbps download and…
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Sputnik 1, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, was the first artificial satellite. Explorer 1 became the United States’ first satellite in 1958. As of 2025, there are roughly 11,000+ active satellites orbiting Earth, with tens of thousands of pieces of inactive satellites and debris. Geostationary satellites orbit about 35,786 km (22,236…
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