Texas software is going to help bring us the first node of the interplanetary internet.
No, this isn't sci-fi. It's the future of space communications.
Hypergiant Galactic Systems announced on Friday that it is working with the nonprofit Arch Mission Foundation to send a satellite up to a stable Lagrange point between Earth and the Moon in late 2020.
Hypergiant's part involves its AI-driven operating system that lets the satellite self-drive, which is key to having satellites positioned in the right spots to keep the data streams flowing efficiently.
In essence, these cubesats will be relaying data throughout the solar system -- but probably not so you can stream "Game of Thrones" on Neptune.
The mission is much more critical: And it includes "special sensors and cameras that allow it to scan the space environment for undetected asteroids that may pose a threat to Earth or other space missions, as well as to survey and track debris at the chosen Lagrangian point. This is important for planetary defense as well as for the maintenance of the interplanetary internet."
Hypergiant Industries co-founder Ben Lamm is a long-time space enthusiast and is on the Planetary Society’s advisory council.
“It’s time to move beyond the research phase and actually start testing this in the real world,” he said in a news release. “We’re going to begin to test and roll-out a commercial-grade Interplanetary Internet, an essential enabling infrastructure for all future space activity. We are increasing the speed at which humanity will become an interplanetary species and we need the infrastructure to support it."
Hypergiant Industrials also announced Friday that General Lance Lord, a four-star Air Force General and Commander of the Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, is joining the company's executive advisory board.
“Much of the work on satellite communications to-date has focused on Earth-to-space and space-to-Earth capabilities,” Lord said in a statement. “But a big missing piece is space-to-space communications. We need a high-bandwidth interplanetary Internet capability to support future commercial and scientific activities around the solar system, and in particular, to support the data and communications needs of future colonies on the Moon and Mars.”
