South Korean conglomerate Samsung is looking to venture into worldwide satellite-based internet services through a constellation of low-cost, micro-satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO).
In its report titled ‘Mobile Internet from the Heavens’, the technology giant outlined the basic structure of its future space-based internet programme.
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The company said that its concept will be designed to support a zetabyte per month of data traffic, which will require around 4,600 satellites.
Micro-satellites are easier to launch and use less power than the current methods, due to their proximity to Earth.
The proposal is in-line with the company’s plan to tap into the estimated growth of internet traffic, and to design a space internet that meets the demand.
Samsung America R&D president Farooq Khan said: "As more people connect to the internet, increasingly chat to friends and family, watch videos on the move, and listen to streamed music on their mobile devices, mobile data traffic continues to grow at unprecedented rates.
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By GlobalData"Actually, this surge in demand is following what we can informally call an omnify principle. Here, omnify stands for order of magnitude increase every five years."
By 2028, global internet traffic is estimated to reach one zetabyte a month.
Several other technology majors are working on space-based internet projects, including Facebook, Google, SpaceX and OneWeb.
SpaceX is planning to launch a network of satellites into orbit to provide high-speed internet, and OneWeb plans to launch around 700 satellites.
In a similar approach, Google is working on solar-powered internet drones, and Facebook recently unveiled a full-scale drone that it intends to use for its internet services.
