Strengthening communications networks will require many thousands of satellites

About 11,000 satellites have been launched since the Sputnik went in to orbit in the 1950s, but less than a third of them are currently active. The coming years will see a proliferation, with an estimated 70,000 satellites going in to orbit – largely to bolster communications networks, writes Desautels Prof. Karl Moore in an article for Forbes.com. “Instead of laying fiber underneath oceans, across deserts or over rugged mountain areas, the ability to use space-based networks offers a powerful new tool that can reach the speeds of land-based optical networks,” said Mike Greenley, the CEO of the Canadian space company MDA. “People are investing capital in that and creating businesses to bring communications that help remote, rural and Indigenous communities.”