Google investment revives satellite Internet talks

It was a hot idea in the 1990s: Provide global Internet access with mega-constellations of dozens or hundreds of small satellites flying in low Earth orbit. The result was a bloodbath of serial bankruptcies. Now big investments in two new ventures, including Google backing for SpaceX, bet that the idea's time has come.

Today small satellites are far more capable, launch costs are improving, demand for high-speed data continues to grow and deep-pocketed entrepreneurs and investors are hunting for ways to make money in space. SpaceX envisions deploying more than 4,000 satellites, and OneWeb nearly 650. Large numbers of spacecraft are needed to cover parts of the world lacking good Internet access from ground or space-based providers. That means the satellites have to be cheap, said John Olds, CEO of Atlanta-based SpaceWorks Enterprises. "That's what's changed in the last 10 years, that's different from Teledesic," he said. "The satellites are getting less expensive, and that's sort of enabling these things to be reconsidered."