EON wants to move the data superhighway from ocean fiber to space lasers
Endeavor Optical Networks is planning to launch the fastest space laser communications system yet built. As hyperscalers build out data centers around the world, they need to move the bits back and forth, and that often relies on a somewhat brittle network of undersea fiberoptic cables crisscrossing the oceans. Those cables are tricky to access and repair , much less install.
Key Takeaways
- But alternatives aren't easy to find: Radio transmissions don't have the bandwidth, which rules out most wireless approaches on the ground or in orbit.
- Most satellite communications networks, even those that provide broadband internet service, aren't robust enough to carry data at 200 terabits a second or more, the speed of undersea fiber.
However, more powerful satellites and advances in optical technology are making space-to-ground communications with lasers more feasible.
- EON intends to build a network of about 20 satellites, each able to provide a dedicated link between two continents, with the initial fleet providing 24-hour coverage for early customers.
The company will carefully choose ground stations in different regions to serve local data centers and CDNs, using redundant sites and leveraging weather data to ensure a reliable link.
- Doing that will require careful engineering.
EON will focus on producing the optical communications terminal, carefully allocating spending to the components that must be exquisite, like the gimbals that will point the laser.
- " In addition to Presser, a PhD astronautical engineer who has planned frontier missions for NASA, the company's technical bench includes Michael David Francois, a long-time Google executive focused on global network infrastructure, and Wesley Baxter, an optics engineer who most recently worked on Amazon's LEO satellite network.
Stats & Key Facts
- #75 million in seed funding from General Catalyst and Andreessen Horowitz, is betting on that plan.
- #EON intends to build a network of about 20 satellites, each able to provide a dedicated link between two continents, with the initial fleet providing 24-hour coverage for early customers.
- #First, though, EON will use its seed round to build out an optics lab, hire more engineers, and perform ground tests ahead of a demo satellite they hope to launch around the end of 2027.
But alternatives aren't easy to find: Radio transmissions don't have the bandwidth, which rules out most wireless approaches on the ground or in orbit. But now, maybe lasers could do the job. Endeavor Optical Networks , a startup founded in May and emerging from stealth today with $10.
75 million in seed funding from General Catalyst and Andreessen Horowitz, is betting on that plan. The co-founders, CEO Charlie Horowitz and CTO Tyler Presser, aim to launch a network of laser-equipped spacecraft to link data centers from orbit. Most satellite communications networks, even those that provide broadband internet service, aren't robust enough to carry data at 200 terabits a second or more, the speed of undersea fiber.
However, more powerful satellites and advances in optical technology are making space-to-ground communications with lasers more feasible. NASA used laser comms to beam back data from its most recent moon mission, while a handful of private space companies, including York, Kepler, and Cailabs, have demonstrated links between Earth orbit and the ground. Those connections, however, aimed for a throughput of 2.
For more details please read the original article at TechCrunch AI.
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