An Anchorage-based company plans to launch a new-technology telecommunications satellite that will give coverage for internet and broadband service across the state for the first time, and could also cut costs in rural Alaska to as low as one third to one fourth of what is now being paid.
Pacific Dataport, an affiliate of Microcom, a long-established Alaska company, has signed a contract with California-based Astranis to build and launch the satellite, to be called Aurora 4A, in mid-2020, said Chuck Schumann, COO of Pacific Dataport.
Astranis is a new company that is developing new technologies for satellites, particularly for those to be placed in high orbits. The satellite will be in a geostationary orbit 22,000 miles high over the North Pacific, meaning that its location will be constant relative to the earth’s surface below.
Aurora 4A will be put into a location that will enable it to serve all parts of the state and into the Arctic 600 miles north of the state’s Arctic coast. “We chose the Aurora name to continue the tradition of satellites serving Alaska to have that name. Aurora 1, now out of service, was launched in the 1980s and was the first satellite dedicated to Alaska.
Aurora 2 and 3 followed, but Aurora 3 is not solely dedicated and actually consists of leased capacity in another satellite. “Aurora 3 is ‘aging out’ and also uses older technology, and the combination of those were what motivated Microcom to form Pacific Dataport two years ago to develop a dedicated satellite for Alaska.
There are actually two satellites in the company’s plan so there is backup capability. Pacific Dataport expects an announcement of a contract to build a second satellite within a few months.
Schumann said the geostationary location planned for Aurora 4A is best accomplished with a launch from an equatorial latitude rather than Kodiak, which is in a high latitude. The Pacific Spaceport at Kodiak, which owned by the state’s Alaska Aerospace Corp., is better suited for launches into polar orbits with satellites using lower orbits.
The launch provider for Aurora 4A has not yet been selected, Schumann said, but the rocket carrying the satellite will likely be launched either from Cape Canaveral, in Florida, or French Guiana.
Until recently there has not been satellite telecommunications coverage across the entire state.
The high cost and limited capacity of satellites serving Alaska resulted in development of surface-based microwave systems like one operated by GCI serving western and northwest Alaska and a fiber-optic system serving northern and western coastal communities built by Quintillion.
Pacific Dataport sees its new satellite as basically complementing, rather than head-on competing, with terrestrial telecom providers like GCI and Quintillion. Pacific Dataport can offer backup for those systems, as well as coverage in areas those systems cannot reach.
Aurora 4A will support services like streaming that are not available in many parts of the state and will also provide for faster internet.
One traditional disadvantage of satellites is the slight delay in signals due to the distance of the satellite in space, and for certain applications like videoconferencing terrestrial systems may be better, but for most services today the slight signal lag can be accommodated and is, in any event, offset by the lower cost.
Internet and broadband access are seen as essential to economic development, education and health care delivery in rural areas. Schools in rural Alaska are increasingly reliant on internet-based testing of students, for example, as well as distance delivery of classes.
Given the current limits for internet and the lack of broadband, rural students are at an increasing disadvantage.
Alaska’s disadvantages seem ironic in many ways. “I was surprised to learn that there is better access in many parts of Africa than in Alaska, Schumann said. There are areas near population centers that have sub-optimal service, too.
From the commercial standpoint, once broadband service is established and at lower costs the demand for service will grow sharply, creating more business for all telecom providers, Schumann said. “We know there are thousands of unserved and underserved people in the state because the service is so limited. When service is improved and costs are lowered we expect people to find all sorts of new uses,” he said.