Japanese companies Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp (NTT Corp) and SKY Perfect JSAT Corp have agreed to set up a new joint venture (JV) company to launch ‘a novel integrated space computing network’ starting with ‘optical and wireless communication network[s] to be built in space and the mobile network to be built in the stratosphere’. The press release went on to note: ‘In FY2024, Space Compass will launch an optical data relay service for high speed transmission to the ground via a geostationary orbit (GEO) satellite. This will carry a vast amount of diverse data collected in space by observation satellites. Existing services, which transmit data directly to ground stations, have communication capacity limits imposed by the use of radio waves as well as limits on the time at which ground stations can communicate with observation satellites. In contrast, optical transmission via a GEO will enable high-capacity, quasi-real-time data transmission.’
As previously reported by CommsUpdate, in January this year NTT Corp, its mobile arm NTT DOCOMO, Airbus and SKY Perfect JSAT announced a joint collaboration on the feasibility of developing high-altitude platform stations (HAPS)-based connectivity services as part of ‘a future space-based wireless connectivity ecosystem’. The parties reportedly entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to identify the early deployment requirements of a HAPS-based network, and confirmed that the initial phase will involve exploring the use of the Airbus Zephyr, dubbed as a ‘leading solar-powered, stratospheric unmanned aerial system (UAS)’, alongside NTT’s and SKY Perfect’s wireless networks to test HAPS connectivity, identify practical applications, develop required technologies and ultimately launch space-based wireless broadband services.