Techno-Nationalism

Chapter 17Space-Based Internet

A technology revolution involving low earth orbit (LEO) satellites promises to bring high-speed Internet to virtually every square inch of the planet. By 2030, a collection of constellations amounting to some 60,000 satellites are expected to orbit the Earth.

Enter Starlink Internet, an American space-based telecommunications network operated by SpaceX, the pioneering company founded by the billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. SpaceX, which has been the recipient of billions of dollars in U.S. government funding and contracts, also builds, launches and functions as a contract operator of reusable rockets and other spacecraft.

In the space industry, as in others, geopolitical concerns and capitalist profit-seeking overlap as the rivalry between the U.S. and China bifurcates strategic supply chains, industries and markets. This has produced a techno-nationalist grey zone for governments and corporations.

National security imperatives have led to the creation of public–private partnerships (PPP) and these PPPs blur the line between defence-related and commercial activities.

First-mover advantages in LEO technology and rocket science have conferred inordinate power on a small number of companies, especially Musk’s SpaceX and Starlink Internet. High barriers to entry in the LEO sector will present challenges to other governments as they seek to develop their own secure national LEO ecosystems.

China, meanwhile, is racing to build its own LEO constellation, ...