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Comment by bmitc | Hacker News Reader

Does anyone have some thoughts on where all the funding and market is coming from in this new private space industry? I've seen a ton of these companies popping up, and I'm not sure I quite understand where all the demand and money is coming from outside of government contracts.

While space is always cool and "sexy", I've been wondering if there's some analog model that could work for ocean tech, particularly tech that allows us to better protect and explore the ocean.

On a personal and technical level, I view the ocean as far more important to human understanding and survival than space.

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Private internet satellites is going to be a big market. Russian space program collapsing for quite some time and only being escalated recently. SpaceX paving a way for profitable private space business.

Satellite internet seem to me to be a niche thing, at best. It's extremely 'cool' but in countries rich enough to buy satellite internet high speed wireless infrastructure is nearly ubiquitous. Countries without the cash to fund wireless infrastructure also don't have the cash to pay for satellite internet. On top of that some customers who might otherwise have the resources and the need live in autocratic countries that may not be entirely happy with internet that isn't entirely within their control. It seems like that basically limits your possible customers to western style democracies in under-served rural areas or a few outliers like maybe marine applications, etc.

As a current Starlink customer, I can assure you there's plenty of market outside of the "nearly ubiquitous". I live just 30 miles from a small city where the average home is served by 400Mbps cable, yet until Starlink came along I was stuck with Hughesnet, which is reminiscent of a particularly high-latency 56k dial up connection. There are a couple thousand similar households just in my county.

So... Exactly the scenario at the end of my post?

Trust me, I empathize as I am in a similar boat. But we are a small, small market comparitively. We are expensive to service, low density, and low profit. Pretty much the definition of a niche

Yes, my point was that I think you're underestimating the size of that niche.

> view the ocean as far more important to human understanding and survival than space

Funny enough, I always thought calling groups of coördinating satellites “constellations” belies their true complexity. They’re fleets. When you think of fleets of satellites in orbit, the need for ancillary services becomes obvious. (On your narrower point, we are seeing major breakthroughs in oceanography and maritime surveillance from these constellations.)

Presently the biggest challenge confronting the private space industry is creating a market and creating demand. This is no different than any other industry, however.

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