Dialog - SPACE New players, new objectives

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Dialog - SPACE New players, new objectives
03/2021

THE TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE
                          dialog

                                     SPACE
                                     New players,
                                   new objectives
Dialog - SPACE New players, new objectives
We unleash the power
      of hydrogen                                                       Siemens Energy is a registered trademark licensed by Siemens AG.

                    We take the next step of the global energy
                    transition with the hydrogen economy
                    by converting “green electrons” into “green
                    molecules”. Thereby renewable energy can
                    be integrated into industry, energy and mobility.

                    LET’S MAKE TOMORROW DIFFERENT TODAY.

siemens-energy.com/hydrogen
Dialog - SPACE New players, new objectives
EDITORIAL

                                        Huge bet on New Space
                                        German consumers are now free to use the beta version of one US space company’s satellite
                                        network, which is to one day provide Internet access around the globe. Another US p    ­ rovider –
                                        with corresponding capital in the tens of billions – is poised to launch tens of thousands of low
                                        Earth orbit (LEO) satellites into space to meet the expected billion-dollar global demand for
                                        communication and value-added services. In addition to the high number of lightweight LEO
                                        satellites produced with industrial processes in mind, it's the use of cost-effective, ­reusable
                                        rocket stages that has heralded a paradigm shift in space travel. As a
                                        result, the launch costs for LEO satellites are expected to fall by up
                                        to a factor of 100 by 2030. Have those of us in Germany and Europe                 “Space travel is facing
                                        fallen so far behind that we’ll never be able to catch up?                            a paradigm shift.
                                            When it comes to projects involving LEO megaconstellations, it
                                        does seem unlikely that we’ll ever be able to close the current gap.             We need a judo strategy
                                        What we need now is a judo strategy – one that could combine                         now to avoid falling
                                        ­German and European technology and application components with
                                                                                                                               further behind.”
                                         quick action, flexibility and leverage. Satellite-based communications
                                         and value-added services should always be seen as a supplement to
                                         terrestrial systems that guarantees coverage where ground-based solutions would not be eco-
                                         nomical. This clearly presents some interesting ways in which Germany and Europe could
                                         maintain their technological leadership by integrating their own LEO systems into fifth- and
                                         sixth-generation mobile networks. The particular advantages of this approach would be the
                                         direct usability of 5G and 6G end devices and sensors with both terrestrial and non-­terrestrial
                                         communication networks and the cost benefits associated with an existing global ecosystem.
                                         At the same time, we need to make full use of the European Commission’s multi-billion-­euro
                                         funding framework for innovation and technology transfer in space, especially to support
                                         SMEs in developing alternative technologies and business models.
                                            I hope you find this issue stimulating and informative!
PHOTOS: COVER: SPACEX; PAGE 03: NOKIA

                                        Yours truly,

                                        Dr. Volker Ziegler
                                        Deputy Chairman of the Information Technology Society in VDE

                                                                                                                                                     03
Dialog - SPACE New players, new objectives
CONTENTS

                                                                                                                                                                    12

A dynamic market worth billions has emerged around space travel. The costs of satellite launches are falling rapidly, and innovative technologies are opening up entirely
new business models. There are promising and lucrative prospects for all the players competing for dominance in space.

                                                                                 30                                                                                 34

Bear vs. lion, Berlin vs. Munich: Which city has the edge as a hotbed of t­ echnology?   High-flying technology: A new generation of wind energy plants uses airborne
The capital of startups, or the place where big companies gather?                        components to capture the wind in higher layers of the atmosphere.

04
Dialog - SPACE New players, new objectives
SPECTRUM                                    TITLE                                      TOPICS

                                                                                    06 DISPATCHES                               12		 COMMERCIAL
                                                                                                                                     SPACE FLIGHT
                                                                                                                                                                           30 CITY COMPARISON
                                                                                          Chip design / Hydrogen /                                                                Berlin versus Munich: Which of
                                                                                          Blockchain / Education /                  The competition for the multi-­               the two cities currently has the
                                                                                          Quantum computing / E-mobility            billion-euro market surrounding               edge as Germany’s best techno­
                                                                                          / Charging systems / Printed              the space industry is in full swing.          logy location?
                                                                                          electronics / Standardization             Work is underway on reusable
                                                                                                                                    launchers, huge satellite networks
                                                                                                                                                                           34		 WIND POWER

                                                                                    07 PERSONALIA
                                                                                                                                    and ways to transport tourists into
                                                                                                                                    space.                                        Unlike their conventional counter-
                                                                                          Dr. Kathrin Rüschenschmidt /                                                            parts, flying wind turbines operate
                                                                                          Dr. Joachim Kabs / Dr. Dirk                                                             in higher reaches of the atmos-
                                                                                          Biermann / Ingo Schönberg /           18		 SATELLITE INTERNET                           phere, where the wind is stronger
                                                                                          Ansgar Hinz                               Remote regions of Germany and                 and more reliable.
                                                                                                                                    the rest of the world are to finally
                                                                                                                                    receive high-speed Internet access
                                                                                    08 CHECKING IN                                  in the near future. This is being      36 CO2 CAPTURE
                                                                                          In order to achieve the climate           made possible by a dense network              Direct air capture is considered a
                                                                                          goals of the Paris Agreement and          of satellites.                                source of hope among climate
                                                                                          the German government, the                                                              technologies. The process removes
                                                                                          proportion of green electricity                                                         greenhouse gases from the
                                                                                          in Germany needs to increase          22		 MARS MISSIONS                                surrounding air and can thus
                                                                                          significantly. But is this even           The red planet is a popular place:            contribute significantly to the
                                                                                          possible, and is energy self-­            2020 saw the launch of no fewer               reduction of CO2.
                                                                                          sufficiency a realistic goal?             than three missions to Mars. In
                                                                                                                                    addition to the search for signs of
                                                                                                                                    life, these endeavors are also a       38 DRIVE OF THE FUTURE
                                                                                    11 INTERVIEW                                    matter of prestige.                           According to a VDE study, it’s
                                                                                          Not all waste is garbage! There are                                                     only with a clever mix of all the
                                                                                          recyclable resources in much of                                                         climate-neutral drive technologies
                                                                                          what we throw away. Resourcify        27		 STARTUPS                                     available that the EU can achieve
                                                                                          founder Felix Heinricy explains           With unusual ideas and plenty of              zero emissions.
                                                                                          how the digitalization of waste           innovative spirit, a new generation
                                                                                          management creates both                   of startups is forcing its way into
                                                                                          ecological and economic value.            the New Space market. Let us           40		 AWARD FOR VDE
                                                                                                                                    introduce you to a few of them.               The FAZ-Institut has honored
                                                                                                                                                                                  companies for fulfilling their social
PHOTOS: PAGE 04: SPACEX (ABOVE), LANDESARCHIV BERLIN (LEFT) + STADTARCHIV MÜNCHEN

                                                                                                                                                                                  responsibility beyond their core
(RIGHT) (COMPOSITE ILLUSTRATION) (LOWER LEFT), SKYSAILS GROUP GMBH (LOWER RIGHT)

                                                                                                                                                                                  business during the coronavirus
                                                                                                                                                                                  pandemic – and VDE is one of
                                                                                                                                                                                  them.

                                                                                                                                                                           VDE GROUP

                                                                                                                                                                           42 MEET THE VDE

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     05
Dialog - SPACE New players, new objectives
SPECTRUM

                                                                                   E-MOBILITY

                                                                              Gentle on
                                                                              your wallet
                                                                              More electric cars can
                                                                             lead to falling electricity
                                                                                prices, but only with
                                                                          intelligent load management.

                                                                       The results of a study by the Fraun-
                                                                       hofer Research Institution for Energy
                                                                       Infrastructures and Geothermal Sys-
                                                                       tems (IEG) and the Fraunhofer Insti-
                                                                       tute for Systems and Innovation Re-
                                                                       search (ISI) show a promising trend:
                                                                       The increase in electromobility will
                                                                       bring down electricity prices – in-
                                                                       cluding for private households – in
                         CHIP DESIGN                                   the near future. The scientists calcu-
                                                                       lated that with a total of four million
            Micro-computing                                            electric cars in Germany and a local
                                                                       penetration rate of 30 percent among
 IBM has achieved a breakthrough. The development of a                 all the private cars in a given power
 two-nanometer chip is an important innovation for the IT              grid area, consumer prices could be
     industry – and one that the EU is also targeting.                 around 3.5 percent lower in the year
                                                                       2030 compared to a system without
IBM has produced the world’s first chip with a processor node          e-mobility.
size of two nanometers. Compared to chips with s­ even-­nanome­ter        One prerequisite for this is intel-
nodes, IBM claims this new technology is expected to ­deliver          ligent load management, which can
45 percent more power and consume 75 percent less energy.              smooth the load curve and improve
50 billion of these transistors fit on an area the size of a finger-   grid utilization with timed charging
nail, and hundreds of individual chips can be packed onto a two-­      of electric vehicles. Together, these ef-
nanometer wafer (pictured). According to IBM research director         fects would lead to a reduction in spe-
Dr. Darío Gil, this innovation can help reduce the CO2 footprint       cific network charges for low-voltage
of data centers, quadruple the battery life of cell phones, dramati-   electricity. The battery capacity of
cally accelerate laptop performance, shorten autonomous vehicle        electric cars is another factor. If it is
response times, and more.                                              used to store and make use of volatile
   Ultra-thin nanometer chips are also at the heart of a Europe-­      energy from renewable sources, this
wide semiconductor alliance launched by EU Internal Market             will also reduce the greenhouse gas
Commissioner Thierry Breton. The aim is to double Europe’s             emissions of the entire energy system.
share of global semiconductor production from 10 to 20 percent         It will lower procurement costs in the
by 2030 with a focus on structural widths between two and five         electricity market, as well.
nanometers. In the German FAZ newspaper, Breton explained
that constructing European chip factories is important not only in
view of the current bottlenecks, but because semiconductors are
needed in many areas – including 5G and Industry 4.0.

06
Dialog - SPACE New players, new objectives
PERSONALIA
                                                                                                         +++ 1 DR. KATHRIN RÜSCHENSCHMIDT                 1                                 2                    3
                                                                                                         is a 2021 Engineer Powerwoman. With this
                                                                                                         award, Deutsche Messe honors experts who
                                                                                                         have made a special contribution through
                                                                                                         their outstanding dedication to scientific and
                                                                                                         technical disciplines. Rüschenschmidt holds
                                                                                                         a doctorate in physics and is responsible
                                                                                                         for managing global projects involving new
                                                                                                                                                                                            4                    5
                                                                                                         product developments in the field of ma-
                                                                                                         chine automation at the energy technology
                                                                                                         manufacturer Emerson. Last year, she also
                                                                                                         founded the Laatzen chapter of Women in
                                                                                                         STEM. She has been committed to diversity
                                                                                                         and inclusion in companies since beginning
                                                                                                         her university studies. +++ The Forum Net-
                                                                                                         work Technology/Network Operation in VDE
                                                                                                         (VDE FNN) has a new board of directors. Its chairman      search projects. The deputy chairmen of VDE FNN are
                                                                                                         is 2 DR. JOACHIM KABS, member of the manage-              3 DR. DIRK BIERMANN and 4 INGO SCHÖNBERG.
                                                                                                         ment board of Bayernwerk Netz GmbH, where he is           Since 2012, Biermann has been a member of the
                                                                                                         responsible for operational network business. Kabs        management board at transmission system operator
                                                                                                         promotes sustainable network development as part          50Hertz, where he is responsible for system operations,
                                                                                                         of Germany’s energy transition, including through his     network planning and all of the company’s energy-­
                                                                                                         contributions to the German Association of Energy and     related activities. Schönberg is a founder and CEO of
                                                                                                         Water Industries, the German Technical and Scientific     the smart meter gateway manufacturer PPC. Continuing
                                                                                                         Association for Gas and Water and interdisciplinary re-   to serve on the board is 5 ANSGAR HINZ, CEO of VDE.
PHOTOS: PAGE 6: IBM; PAGE 07: EMERSON ELECTRIC CO. (1), BAYERNWERK NETZ GMBH (2), 50HERTZ TRANSMISSION

                                                                                                                                                           BLOCKCHAIN
GMBH (3), POWER PLUS COMMUNICATIONS AG (4), UWE-NOELKE / VDE (5), HILCH / STOCK.ADOBE.COM (BOTTOM)

                                                                                                                           Climate-neutral and transparent
                                                                                                                                           Tracing a CO2-free lithium supply chain?
                                                                                                                                              It’s possible thanks to blockchain.

                                                                                                            Electromobility makes a vital contribution to climate protection, but the mining and transport of lith-
                                                                                                            ium for the batteries required is often criticized. The Karlsruhe-based company Vulcan Energy Re-
                                                                                                            sources plans to use blockchain technology to build the world’s first climate-neutral lithium supply
                                                                                                            chain. Vulcan has developed a process that makes it possible to obtain lithium from the
                                                                                                            thermal waters of the Upper Rhine Plain without any CO2 emissions. The compa-
                                                                                                            ny is working with the English blockchain provider Circulor to make this im-
                                                                                                            portant raw material traceable. With their system, it’s possible to record and
                                                                                                            evaluate all the data relevant for a fully transparent supply chain. The first
                                                                                                            dynamic CO2 measurements in the production process are being carried
                                                                                                            out as part of Vulcan’s planned pilot and demonstration plants.
                                                                                                               The company plans to start producing zero-carbon lithium in 2024.
                                                                                                            In the meantime, it will be preparing its entire supply chain for full trace-
                                                                                                            ability.
Dialog - SPACE New players, new objectives
SPECTRUM

                                                                                                    EDUCATION
     CLIMATE GOALS
                                                                                          Trend report
     Self-sufficient or networked?
     In order to achieve its climate targets for 2030, which were recently
                                                                                         shows deficits
     tightened, Germany will need significantly more green electricity in                 The STEM Young Scientists
     the coming years. But is this even possible, and is energy self-suffi-               Barometer 2021 laments too
     ciency a realistic goal?                                                               many training dropouts.

                       DR. PATRICK GRAICHEN, Director, Agora Energie­wende             One in five STEM apprenticeships
                       We can and must unleash the potential of renewable              in Germany ends short of the finish
                       energies. To that end, the German federal government            line. This was one of the recent find-
                       should triple its expansion targets for wind turbines and       ings of Acatech and the Körber Foun-
                       double them for solar installations in the current parlia-      dation, which take a look at technical
                       mentary term. This is a realistic aim if we set aside two       and natural science education in Ger-
                       percent of the country’s land for such purposes and             many each year for the STEM Young
                       speed up the approval process. It’s not so much about           Scientists Barometer. According to the
                       energy self-sufficiency as it is about securing Germa-          2021 report, the high dropout rate is
      ny’s position as an industrial location. After all, domestic electricity will    due to the fact that trainees are not well
      always be cheaper than hydrogen imports.                                         matched to subjects or become over-
                                                                                       whelmed by complicated subject mat-
      PROF. DR. BRUNO BURGER, renewable energy                                         ter. In addition, just 160,000 training
      expert in the Power Electronics, Grids and Systems                               contracts were signed in the STEM
      division, Fraunhofer ISE                                                         sector in 2020 – around 21,000 fewer
      Germany has now set its sights on a 65-percent re-                               than in the previous year. According
      duction in CO2 emissions by 2030, which is technical-                            to the Federal Employment Agency,
      ly feasible while maintaining constant supply security.                          though, a quarter of the decline was
      We see this in our hour-by-hour model calculations.                              due to the coronavirus pandemic.
      For this to happen, however, the country’s installed                                Meanwhile, the study also found
      generation capacity must increase to 140 GW in wind                              that are too many underperforming
      power and 200 GW in solar power, which entails adding an average of              STEM pupils in Germany. The skills
      9 GW of wind and 15 GW of solar capacity every year. To balance pro-             of German elementary school pupils
      duction and consumption throughout each day, we need about 80 GWh                are now below average compared to
      of battery storage. Meanwhile, energy self-sufficiency shouldn’t be the          the other EU and OECD countries.
      main goal. It makes more sense to work toward a further expansion of             Around a quarter of children do not
      the European power grid.                                                         develop the mathematical skills re-
                                                                                       quired for secondary school. “If
                         DR. JOACHIM KABS, Chairman of the Forum Network               STEM education is in lockdown, we
                         Technology/Network Operation in VDE and member of             need advances in digital education,”
                         the management board at Bayernwerk Netz GmbH                  said Olaf Köller, director of the Lei-
                         The energy sector is already doing a great deal to achieve    bniz Institute for Science and Math-
                         the climate targets that have been set. For me, the fur-      ematics Education and head of the
                         ther challenges that await pose a much more important         STEM Young Scientists Barometer. In
                         question. The focus needs to be on adequate cover-            addition to teacher training, he notes,
                         age going forward – even in periods without wind and          the investment in and development of
                         sun. We won’t get very far projecting average e     ­ nergy   intelligent learning systems will play a
      volumes for entire years. To ensure profitable operations and innovation,        major role.
      we have to offer incentives for the right investments in production and
      consumption plants, as well as in power grids. These are the prerequi-
      sites for a reliable and fair renewable energy system.

08
Dialog - SPACE New players, new objectives
PRINTED ELECTRONICS

                                                                                                                                                                                               Supersmart
                                                                                                                                                                                                on paper
                                                                                                                                                                                         A new process makes it possible
                                                                                                                                                                                          to print electronic components
                                                                                                                                                                                         such as sensors and smart labels
                                                                                                                                                                                                      on paper.

                                                                                                                                                                                         Paper is incompatible with convention-
                                                                                                                                                                                         al electronics manufacturing, which is
                                                                                                                                                                                         why it it’s almost never used as a carri-
                                                                                                                                                                                         er material in electronic devices. A Eu-
                                                                                                                                                                                         ropean consortium with 11 partners
                                                                                                                                                                                         has now succeeded in putting print-
                                                                                                                                       HYDROGEN                                          ed electronics on paper in the research
                                                                                                                                                                                         project Supersmart. Specifically, it has
                                                                                                                             Ray of hope                                                 made tamper-proof electronic labels
                                                                                                                                                                                         that are used for things like provid-
                                                                                                            The EU wants to push ahead with the production                               ing information about the origin and
                                                                                                              of hydrogen in Europe and is calling for the                               authenticity of products or monitor-
                                                                                                               development of appropriate infrastructure.                                ing logistics processes. Employing el-
                                                                                                                                                                                         ements such as high-throughput pro-
                                                                                                      The European Parliament has spoken out in favor of establishing                    cess plants in order to facilitate mass
                                                                                                      a European hydrogen economy. It recently cited an “urgent need”                    production was an important part of
                                                                                                      to develop infrastructure for the production, storage and trans-                   the project. Paper is an environmen-
                                                                                                      port of hydrogen in order to achieve the climate targets the EU                    tally friendly alternative to plastic,
                                                                                                      has set. This was the conclusion of a report approved by the Parlia-               which is typically used as a carrier for
                                                                                                      ment, which specified industry along with air, maritime, and heavy                 electronic labels. An analysis was thus
PHOTOS: PAGE 8: AGORA ENERGIEWENDE (ABOVE), FRAUNHOFER ISE (MIDDLE), BAYERNWERK NETZ GMBH (BOTTOM);

                                                                                                      goods transport as the key markets for hydrogen demand. The                        conducted alongside the project to in-
                                                                                                      Parliament sees hydrogen as an important building block and a ray                  vestigate this aspect. The conclusion:
                                                                                                      of hope in decarbonization and the reduction of CO2 emissions                      paper simplifies the eventual recy-
                                                                                                      in Europe. Related technology is expected to eliminate around                      cling process and reduces waste both
                                                                                                      560 million metric tons of CO2 per year by 2050.                                   during production and at the end of a
                                                                                                         The report in question also calls for fossil hydrogen to be re-                 product’s lifespan. The printing pro-
                                                                                                      moved from the market as soon as possible. However, the exact                      cesses applied in the project also con-
                                                                                                      role of renewable green hydrogen and blue hydrogen, which is                       sume less energy and other resources
                                                                                                      produced from decarbonized natural gas, is still a matter of dis-                  than conventional semiconductor pro-
                                                                                                      pute among the Parliament’s fractions.                                             cesses. The Supersmart project team
                                                                                                                                                                                         was honored for its work by the Or-
PAGE 9: PETERSCHREIBER.MEDIA /STOCK.ADOBE.COM

                                                                                                      Opportunities and challenges of hydrogen technology – an interview with VDE        ganic and Printed Electronics Associ-
                                                                                                      President Prof. Dr. Armin Schnettler (English subtitles available)                 ation, a working group of the mechan-
                                                                                                      ä https://youtu.be/-Yzwn3fz1L0                                                     ical engineering association VDMA.

                                                                                                      Find out about our cleantech services at:                                          More information:
                                                                                                      ä https://www.vde.com/renewables                                                   ä https://supersmart-project.eu

                                                                                                      Would you like to know more about our activities in the field of energy storage?
                                                                                                      Then write to: dialog@vde.com

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               09
Dialog - SPACE New players, new objectives
SPECTRUM

                                                               QUANTUM COMPUTING

                                                          Boost for a
                                                     futuristic technology
                                                      A network of companies is working on
                                                  industrial applications that are designed to put
                                                  quantum computing into practice. Performance
                                                     optimization research is also underway.

                                            As the name suggests, these people are thinking big. Within the
                                            research project Sequoia, more than 20 companies from differ-
        CHARGING SYSTEMS                    ent sectors have founded a company network under the auspic-
                                            es of the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering (IAO).
        Full power                          The goal is to collaborate closely on quantum computing devel-
                                            opments and come up with concrete scenarios for putting the
     As fast as stopping for gas:           technology to industrial use. The network also wants to answer
     TH Lübeck is working on the            a number of questions: for example, in what areas can quantum
       fastest charging station             computers bring meaningful benefits? And how far along is the
             in Germany.                    hardware and software development?
                                               Applications such as the optimization of distribution chains for
A combination of charging stations          medications or the planning of resource flows in production pro-
and buffer storage could soon lead to a     cesses are being discussed. A study entitled “Quantum Comput-
breakthrough in high-speed charging         ing for Companies” will provide specific guidance on this subject
systems. Electromobility and power          upon its publication at the end of the year.
electronics researchers at the Lübeck          Another project is hoping to develop a quantum ­computer based
University of Applied Sciences (TH          on high-frequency-controlled ions. The device is to be scalable to
Lübeck) are working on technology           a thousand quantum bits and pave the way for ­applications that
that can fully charge electric vehicles     lie beyond the possibilities of classic supercomputers. The part-
with up to 1000 kilowatts (kW) with-        ners involved in the project are the University of S
                                                                                               ­ iegen, ­Leibniz
in a few minutes.                           University Hannover and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf,
   Roland Tiedemann, professor of           as well as the companies Quartic and Eleqtron.
power electronics, and a team led by
research assistant Clemens Kerssen
have already developed a fully func-
tional prototype called FE-Alpha. The
time it takes to fully charge a car al-
ways depends on its size, says Tiede-
mann. “You can charge a 40-kWh
Nissan Leaf in four minutes, for ex-
ample. If the batteries and cables were
designed for it, we could also charge
at 1000 kW.”
   In the future, FE-Alpha will be de-
signed to simultaneously fuel several
electric vehicles just as fast as a gaso-
line or diesel pump.

10
WASTE MANAGEMENT

                                                                                                          Treasure hunt in the garbage pile
                                                                                                          The Hamburg-based startup Resourcify helps companies digitalize their waste management and identify
                                                                                                          recycling potential. Founder Felix Heinricy explains how the idea came about.

                                                                                                          Mr. Heinricy, what does Resourcify do?                         throughout Europe for two years. As
                                                                                                          We offer a management system for waste and recycla-            a result, Hornbach has succeeded
                                                                                                          ble materials that enables companies to digitally manage       in turning waste disposal into a profit
                                                                                                          all the aspects of waste disposal. It provides them with       center that generates a seven-figure
                                                                                                          a database on waste and recyclable materials in order to       amount every year by selling recy-
                                                                                                          improve their recycling rate and help them sort out more       clable materials.
                                                                                                          recyclables. These can then be sold to waste disposal
                                                                                                          companies.                                                     How did the idea for Resourcify
                                                                                                                                                                         come about?
                                                                                                          Do companies need special software for this?                   Gary Lewis, the co-founder of Re-
                                                                                                          Yes. Our system is connected to a large network of waste       sourcify, was an engineer responsi-
                                                                                                          disposal partners and other service providers that recycle     ble for waste disposal and recycling        FELIX HEINRICY,
                                                                                                          waste and reusable materials. Most companies manage            on a cruise ship. Lots of waste on          CCO Resourcify
                                                                                                          their waste via Excel, and some even still do it on paper.     such ships is not disposed of in ac-
                                                                                                          With our system, a producer of waste can exchange data         cordance with regulations. One day,
                                                                                                          directly with disposal companies. In addition to operational   he was supposed to throw a copper
                                                                                                          waste management, our network offers the opportunity to        engine block overboard. He resisted because he knew that
                                                                                                          find better ways to recycle – for example, when a company      copper was highly valuable. This is how the idea arose to
                                                                                                          no longer wants to incinerate certain waste and is looking     establish a platform for recyclable materials – an eBay for
                                                                                                          for a suitable recycling service.                              waste, if you like. That iteration of the concept didn’t really
                                                                                                                                                                         take off, partly because companies didn’t have any data
                                                                                                          What economic benefits does this have in addition to           on their waste. That was why we started focusing on mak-
                                                                                                          the sustainability aspect?                                     ing this data transparent and visible within organizations.
PHOTOS: PAGE 10: ELENABSL / STOCK.ADOBE.COM (ABOVE), DP / STOCK.ADOBE.COM (BOTTOM); PAGE 11: RESOURCIFY

                                                                                                          The Hornbach hardware store chain in Germany offers a
                                                                                                          good example. The company has been using our system

                                                                                                                                                          STANDARDIZATION

                                                                                                                                  Protecting natural resources
                                                                                                                               A standardization roadmap from DIN, DKE and VDI shows how
                                                                                                                               norms and standards contribute to greater resource efficiency.

                                                                                                          Norms and standards are already applied in value               efficiency. They include the revision or creation of
                                                                                                          chains and material cycles, and they also make an              criteria and procedures regarding the reparability of
                                                                                                          important contribution to the implementation of the            products.
                                                                                                          German resource efficiency program ProgRess III.                  In adopting ProgRess in 2012, Germany became
                                                                                                          Nevertheless, further action is needed on a number             one of the first countries to set itself targets, guide-
                                                                                                          of topics, as DIN, DKE and VDI have laid out in                lines and action plans for the protection of natural
                                                                                                          a standardization map on resource efficiency. The              resources. The Federal Cabinet adopted the third
                                                                                                          document also identifies requirements for standard-            version of the program in 2020.
                                                                                                          ization projects with a view to increasing resource

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           11
TITLE SPACE

12
THE RACE TO SPACE
                                   The space industry has long been a billion-dollar market. It thus comes as no surprise that its main ac-
                                   tors are vying tooth-and-nail for dominance. The private satellite industry, where entirely new and lucra-
                                   tive business models are emerging, is turning out to be the real driver of space flight.

                                   BY PETER MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

                                   On March 30, 2020, it was literally raining debris at the        ing intact. The Starship already epitomizes a new, second
                                   launchpad of US space company SpaceX in Boca Chica,              phase – New Space 2.0, if you will. Elon Musk has unde-
                                   Texas. Fragments of all sizes – the remains of SN11, the         niably won the first stage, which was characterized by the
                                   fourth prototype of the new SpaceX Starship – fell from          founding of numerous space startups and the meteoric rise
                                   the sky. SN11 had initially risen 10 kilometers into the air     of SpaceX. With the highly successful Falcon 9 rocket, he
                                   and, after its engines had been shut down, glided back to        wrestled control of the commercial satellite transport mar-
                                   Earth as planned. Instead of straightening itself for landing,   ket from Europe’s Ariane 5 launcher, and especially from
                                   however, it exploded in the air before touching down. The        the Russian rockets. In less than 10 years, this offering en-
                                   cause: a leaking fuel line. SN11’s three predecessor mod-        abled SpaceX to take over two thirds of the world market.
                                   els had exploded as well – but anyone who sees this as evi-          Musk is now consolidating his market power, and young
                                   dence of failure is mistaken. It only shows how Elon Musk        space companies are launching their own products. What’s
                                   and his engineers approach rocket development: quickly           more, space tourism is on the verge of breaking through
                                   and with a strong tendency toward trial-and-error.               and the largest satellite networks in history are coming
                                      Musk internalized this approach in Silicon Valley, the        ­together.
                                   global center of digitalization, where he co-founded the on-
                                   line payment service PayPal. In this environment, offer-         Space transport: the bottleneck
                                   ing the right product is key; even more important, though,
                                   is doing so faster than the competition and continuing to
                                                                                                    of space travel
                                   make improvements after your product hits the market.            The most visible and impressive elements of New Space
                                   While considered rudimentary in Silicon Valley, this no-         are certainly rockets. This is also where the bottleneck of
PHOTOS: PAGE 12: ESA - D. DUCROS

                                   tion is far more unusual in conventional space travel, which     space travel can be found. The Earth exerts such a strong
                                   is part of why the field is sometimes referred to as Old         gravitational force that even the most powerful rockets
                                   Space. Musk’s approach is also relatively common in New          can carry only a fraction of their total weight into orbit
                                   Space (that is, the new commercial space industry). The          as a payload. The Ariane 5, for example, weighs almost
                                   subsequent Starship test flight less than two months lat-        800 tons, but its load-bearing capacity into geostationary
                                   er seemed to prove him right, as well, with SN15 land-           orbit – where payloads are actually deployed – is only about

                                                                                                                                                              13
TITLE SPACE

The futuristic SpaceShipTwo from Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is to accommodate six passengers and two pilots and transport tourists into space at triple the speed
of sound. Branson is working with designers from Rolls-Royce to create the interior.

10 tons (i.e. 1.25 percent of its total weight). At a starting                         rienced newcomer with a lucrative supply contract for the
price of up to €200 million, it costs an average of around                             ISS. As a result, Musk was able to offer Falcon 9 launches
€20,000 to transport one kilo of payload into orbit. And                               for only €50 million. That’s practically a bargain compared
remember: until recently, the Ariane 5 was still considered                            to other providers.
relatively cheap. The development of low-cost rockets is                                  For Jeff Bezos, meanwhile, this success story must seem
therefore a main goal of New Space – and of space trav-                                rather tragic. The space-loving Amazon founder is also
el in general. When Elon Musk emerged on the scene with                                building a launch vehicle, having founded the space com-
barely a clue about space flight in the early 2000s, he en-                            pany Blue Origin in 2000, two years earlier than SpaceX.
countered a relatively stagnant space transport economy                                Now the richest man in the world, he has also invested
that had only been somewhat shaken up recently by the                                  much more money in this project – up to $1 billion a year.
collapse of the Soviet Union and the appearance of Russian                             Like Musk, Bezos relies on reusability to push down the
rockets on the commercial market. With “only” $120 mil-                                average cost of launches. Nevertheless, he has not yet suc-
lion in earnings from selling his stake in PayPal, he man-                             ceeded in launching his heavy-lift rocket New Glenn. In
aged to launch his Falcon 1 rocket into orbit in 2008 after                            contrast, Musk’s Falcon rockets, including the heavy-load
just three attempts, leaving the industry in disbelief.                                version Falcon Heavy, have already launched more than
                                                                                       110 times and are now even transporting people into orbit
Faster, higher, further: space travel as                                               on SpaceX ships.
                                                                                          Meanwhile, the launch date of the New Glenn was
a race between tortoise and hare                                                       just moved back to the end of 2022, two years later than
Musk was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right                            planned. This is because Bezos has so far failed to win lu-
time. The US government was looking for cheaper alter-                                 crative contracts for his rocket like the ones Musk has land-
natives as the useful life of its shuttles was coming to an                            ed. In 2020, Blue Origin was not among the companies se-
end. NASA therefore not only supported SpaceX in de-                                   lected by the US Air Force to launch military satellites into
veloping the larger Falcon 9, but also provided the inexpe-                            space. The company's bid to at least build the landing fer-

14
ry for NASA’s coming moon landings then also failed this
                                   past April. The winner of that selection process: SpaceX.          Spaceships for tourists
                                   Although Blue Origin has filed a protest against NASA’s
                                   $2.9 billion decision, it is questionable whether it will suc-     Jeff Bezos still has the chance to win at least one com-
                                   ceed. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time that Bezos has      petition. In mid-May, after nearly 20 years of develop-
                                   come up short against Musk.                                        ment and 11 years past the originally announced date,
                                                                                                      Blue Origin announced that it would launch people into
                                   The Starship – even more bad                                       space in July. The tourist rocket known as New Shep-
                                                                                                      ard has actually been flawless in flight, and the capsule
                                   news for the Ariane 6?                                             mounted on it has also landed without a crew sever-
                                   The situation won’t get any easier for the competition if          al times.
                                   SpaceX succeeds in building its aforementioned Star-
                                   ship in combination with the booster stage known as Su-            Richard Branson, Bezos’s direct competitor in space
                                   per Heavy. Particularly for Europe’s rocket builders, this         tourism, would be the one to lose out in this case. The
                                   would make things even more difficult than they already            British billionaire began building an orbital glider for six
                                   are. Granted, the new heavy-lift rocket Ariane 6 is almost         paying passengers after the stunning success of Space-
                                   finished after 11 years of development. At a cost of €70–          ShipOne, which became the first private aircraft to reach
                                   115 million, it’s also expected to be significantly cheaper        space in 2004. Since then, SpaceShipTwo has flown to
                                   than its predecessor depending on the variant. The Ari-            the edge of space several times during test flights. Fol-
                                   ane 6 is still a heritage rocket, though, meaning it’s techni-     lowing two fatal accidents, though, not a single tour-
                                   cally a cheaper copy of the Ariane 5. It’s doubtful whether        ist has traveled to space with Branson. And so, despite
                                   the new version will be able to compete with the Falcon 9          the billions spent on development, none of the approx-
                                   and the New Glenn – not to mention the future Starship.            imately 600 passengers on Virgin Galactic’s waiting list
                                      The development of low-cost rockets is not the exclu-           have paid the $250,000 cost of the almost two-hour
                                   sive domain of the West, either. India also has an afford­         flight, which includes four minutes of weightlessness. In
                                   able rocket (albeit one built within a state-run program)          contrast to “real” spaceships, SpaceShipTwo is just like
                                   and China in particular has a number of new launchers              Bezos’s capsule in that it flies just 100 kilometers high
                                   in addition to its Long March rockets, which have already          on a suborbital track, following the steep curve of a bul-
                                   reached orbit. While India regularly launches satellites,          let shot into space.
                                   however, China has so far been excluded from the com-
                                   mercial business due to the US ITAR technology embar-              Coming in second would be a new experience for Elon
                                   go. This doesn't seem to worry Chinese investors, who have         Musk, too. SpaceX is also planning to launch amateur
                                   poured hundreds of millions into several rocket startups in        astronauts into space with its Crew Dragon ship, but not
                                   recent years.                                                      until September. Perhaps the company’s four passen-
                                      In the end, though, space transport is simply a means           gers will find the wait easier knowing that they won’t be
                                   to an end. At €4.2 billion, the revenue of the commercial          getting just a sniff of space 100 kilometers up, but a real
                                   rocket launch sector is only a fraction of the €300 billion        orbital flight around the Earth.
                                   in overall revenue generated by the space industry and its
                                   products. The private satellite industry accounts for by far
                                   the largest share (€230 billion). Alongside scientific curi-
                                   osity – and military espionage – it is the main driver of
                                   space flight.                                                    tional oil reserves, and find oil pipeline leaks – all via auto-
                                                                                                    matic search algorithms. Here, it’s not the images produced
                                   Space travel for all: miniaturization                            that are the most valuable, but the digital analysis thereof.
                                                                                                    Another cause of the boom is that digitalization and minia-
                                   and digitalization                                               turization in both consumer electronics and space techno­
PHOTOS: PAGE 14: VIRGIN GALACTIC

                                   Lucrative business models have been springing up in this         logy have made high-performance electronics affordable
                                   field since the turn of the millennium. Whole swarms of          for almost everyone. With serially produced electronics
                                   small satellites have appeared at elevations up to 1,000         available off the shelf, even smaller companies can now
                                   kilometers in low Earth orbit. Their number has now tri-         build satellites. These devices often weigh only a few kilo-
                                   pled from around 1,000 to over 3,000. Among other things,        grams and cost hundreds of thousands of euros instead
                                   these satellites are able to track ships at sea, measure na-     of hundreds of millions. The overall development of New

                                                                                                                                                                     15
TITLE SPACE

     ISS MISSION: COSMIC KISS

     “Working with a fresh mindset”
     Matthias Maurer will be flying into space this fall as an ESA astronaut scientist. As Alexander Gest’s successor,
     he will be the second ESA astronaut and the first from Germany to fly to the ISS on board a SpaceX spacecraft
     from NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. He is currently training for this mission, designated Cosmic Kiss, in
     the US.

     Have you already met your crew?              the SpaceX spaceship, I wear every-      the other, I’m very pleased that these
     Sure. We’re already training together.       day clothes like I have on now. I have   new players are involved. They go
     Recently, for example, I was underwa-        to wear a helmet in the other space-     about their work with a fresh mindset.
     ter with my commander, Raja Chari.           ships because I could always hit my      This results in very efficient solutions
     We were training for a spacewalk.            head somewhere; a tried and tested       and pushes the old traditional players
                                                  part is added every so often during      to pick up the pace of their develop-
     What about your spaceship?                   construction.                            ment again.
     I’ve already seen the Crew Dragon
     twice in the clean room in Hawthorne,                                                 With a space budget that’s so
     California. The capsule is still under                                                much smaller than that of the US,
     construction.                                                                         does it really make sense for Eu-
                                                                                           rope to continue developing com-
     Are you working with any SpaceX                                                       mercial space flight?
     engineers?                                                                            Well, Europe’s space budget is still
     Yes. The technicians in the clean room                                                the second largest. I think its new
     always give me the details on how the                                                 approach, which gives startup com-
     ship works. Communicating directly                                                    panies the chance to develop small
     with them is important and motivating.                                                rockets, is the right one.
     Not that I have a lot to tell them – I
     don’t have their expertise.                                                           So it’s reasonable to have commer-
                                                                                           cial rockets alongside the ­     Ariane
     A spaceship is packed full of elec-                                                   and Vega?
     tronics. How much of it do you un-                                                    You’re trying to draw me out here! My
     derstand?                                            “New players                     personal opinion is that if you have
     Understanding it is one thing; being
                                                           are pushing                     two competing suppliers, you’re more
     able to tinker with it is another. When it                                            likely to get a fair market price than if
     comes to the electronics, we don’t go
                                                           the pace of                     you only have one.
     beyond the control panels. The Crew                  development.”
     Dragon capsule can be flown from the                   MATTHIAS MAURER,               Elon Musk also wants to transport
     ground. We only have to check some                      ESA astronaut and             tourists into space. What do you
                                                             member of Crew-3
     pneumatic valves on occasion, which                                                   think of this idea?
     involves opening the cover flaps.                                                     When I’m up there, I’ll probably meet
                                                                                           as many as five tourists. Who’s go-
     You’re familiar with the Soyuz                                                        ing to take care of them in case of an
     training model in Cologne. Is the            What role does commercial space          emergency? Psychologists examine
     Crew Dragon different?                       travel play in your work?                ESA’s astronauts over and over again
     The design of the interior looks like        On the one hand, I think commercial      to see if we can stay calm in extreme
     an iPad: white, metallic, maybe a lit-       players may not have very much ex-       situations. That’s one point where
     tle black and gray. The interior is very     perience. We all know that space trav-   I wonder how much people have
     ergonomically designed. When I enter         el is tough and a lot can go wrong. On   thought through these tourism plans.

16
A Crew Dragon capsule docking on to the International Space Station. After around six months on board the ISS, the four astronauts of Crew-1 returned safely to Earth
                                                               in May of this year. It was the first regular mission with crewed space transporters from Elon Musk’s company.

                                                               Space is clearly reflected in the investments being made in                           comes on average. All the more surprising is Blue Origin’s
                                                               startups – that is, in the amounts of money not being di-                             announcement of its plans to launch some of the satellites
                                                               rected toward established space companies. Between 2000                               in Amazon’s future Project Kuiper network with Boeing
                                                               and 2005, space startups took in almost a billion euros, and                          and Lockheed Martin rockets instead of its own. Whatever
                                                               that number increased to six billion in the subsequent six                            the reasoning behind this is, Jeff Bezos will be crossing the
                                                               years. Young companies in the sector then received nearly                             finish line behind Elon Musk yet again.
                                                               the same amount in 2019 alone. At the same time, both the
                                                               number of newly founded space startups and the number                                 Click to view the live streams of the SpaceX test site in Texas:
                                                               of investors have multiplied. It’s no wonder that SpaceX is                           ä www.youtube.com/LabPadre
                                                               also involved in the satellite revolution. In just three years,
                                                               the company built around 1,670 satellites and shot them                               Test flights of the Blue Origin rocket New Shepard can be seen here:
                                                               into low Earth orbit. The goal of the resulting network,                              ä www.youtube.com/blueoriginchannel
                                                               dubbed Starlink, is to provide broadband Internet from
PHOTOS: PAGE 16: ESA/SABINE GROTHUES; PAGE 17: NASA / SPACEX

                                                               space (see page 18). SpaceX also has an extremely sol-                                Official Facebook page of ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer:
                                                               vent investor you may have heard of: Google. The compa-                               ä www.facebook.com/ESAMatthiasMaurer
                                                               ny started by tech billionaires Larry Page and Sergey Brin
                                                               has invested nearly $1 billion in Elon Musk’s outfit. This is                         Facebook Astro Chat with Matthias Maurer:
                                                               a logical move from the omnipresent search engine opera-                              ä https://m.facebook.com/watch/544873375637658/423222985
                                                               tor’s point of view, as it enables Google products to reach                               0181405/?__tn__=C
                                                               their recipients directly.
                                                                  A large satellite network also makes sense for a space
                                                               transport company like SpaceX. Besides funding Musk’s                                 PETER MICHAEL SCHNEIDER
                                                               plans for Mars in the best-case scenario, it gives SpaceX a                           is a science journalist and author. In his book Goldrausch im All (“Gold Rush in
                                                               way to make efficient use of its transport capacity. After all,                       Space”), he describes the rise of Elon Musk and the revolution of private companies
                                                               the more often a rocket flies, the cheaper each launch be-                            in space.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    17
TITLE SPACE

SATELLITE INTERNET

To the furthest corners of
the Earth
Satellites in low Earth orbit could one day bring the Internet to digitally neglected regions in Germany and
around the world. With his Starlink satellite network, Elon Musk is already in the beta phase of providing
Internet access from space. Other companies such as Amazon are also involved, however, and one of
the challenges they face has to do with receiver antennas.

18
BY MARKUS STREHLITZ

                                                                         While the coronavirus pandemic has exposed Germany’s               creases to 1,584. This could be the case by the beginning
                                                                         weaknesses in terms of digitalization, the network cover-          of next year.
                                                                         age in the country had already been a topic of much dis-
                                                                         cussion. There are still too many gaps where Internet users        A race for more satellites and
                                                                         don’t have sufficient speed and bandwidth. The fact that
                                                                         many regions around the world have similar problems of-
                                                                                                                                            higher data transfer rates
                                                                         fers little comfort. Indeed, many remote parts of the globe        Germany’s Federal Network Agency provides information
                                                                         cannot access the World Wide Web at all.                           on the data transfer rates users can expect in the country.
                                                                            A solution for this could come from space. When no              In March, it reported that the rates between user terminals
                                                                         fiber optic cables are available, satellites can take over the     and satellites were measured at about 100 megabits per
                                                                         transmission of data. It is not a revolutionary idea: satellites   second for downloads and 25 megabits per second for up-
                                                                         have been beaming the Internet down to Earth for many              loads. The mean latency time was 40 milliseconds.
                                                                         years. Those already in place, however, are located in geo-            A user in the US, meanwhile, reported in a tweet about
                                                                         stationary equatorial orbit (GEO) at an altitude of around         a speed test showing 130 megabits per second. This elic-
                                                                         36,000 kilometers. The advantage is that one satellite can         ited a reaction from the very top, also via Twitter. Elon
                                                                         serve relatively large areas, meaning just a few are required      Musk promised that the speed would double to around
                                                                         for complete coverage.                                             300 megabits per second and latency would be reduced to
                                                                                                                                            around 20 milliseconds. He also tweeted that a majority of
                                                                         When it comes down to milliseconds,                                the Earth would be able to access the Internet via Starlink
                                                                                                                                            by the end of the year. Musk wants to achieve full coverage
                                                                         there can be no long latency times                                 by 2022 at the latest.
                                                                         There is also a disadvantage, though: the long distances in-           Although Starlink has already made considerable pro-
                                                                         volved make for relatively high latency times. Many appli-         gress, it faces serious competition in the LEO sector. One-
                                                                         cations that are already important today or will be critical       Web is a company that already has one bankruptcy behind
                                                                         in the near future require low latency. This includes on-          it, but 182 satellites in space, as well. In its initial phase, it
                                                                         line gaming, autonomous driving and industrial applica-            plans to increase that number to 648 as part of its Five to
                                                                         tions. Every millisecond counts for today’s online brokers,        50 program, which involves providing regions of the Earth
                                                                         as well. Hopes in this area are therefore hinging on opera-
                                                                         tions in low Earth orbit (LEO), which take place at an al-
                                                                         titude of around 1,000 kilometers. A number of ventures               Lasers: a key to success in LEO
                                                                         are aiming to corner the market for Internet access from
                                                                         space with LEO satellites.                                            Laser technology will be an important factor in the suc-
                                                                            Starlink, the satellite project of Elon Musk’s SpaceX              cess of LEO broadband projects. Its advantage lies in
                                                                         program, is certainly generating the most hype at the mo-             the large amounts of data that can be transferred with
                                                                         ment. The high level of public awareness is not only due              little power. Because the technology allows only point-
PHOTOS: PAGE 18: SONG_ABOUT_SUMMER / STOCK.ADOBE.COM (COMPOSITE IMAGE)

                                                                         to Musk’s colorful personality and knack for stirring up              to-point communication, it is particularly interesting as
                                                                         publicity for his own projects. There is simply no denying            an option for interconnecting satellites. One problem this
                                                                         that Starlink is leading the pack of LEO broadband pro-               could solve relates to how an LEO satellite can only cov-
                                                                         jects so far. At present, 1,300 of its satellites are already in      er a small area of the Earth at any given time. It would
                                                                         space at an altitude of 550 kilometers. A total of 12,000 are         therefore require a relatively high number of ground sta-
                                                                         planned in the first expansion stage, and that number will            tions to ensure a constant connection between the In-
                                                                         grow to 42,000 in the long term. In the US alone, around              ternet and a particular satellite. An alternative would be
                                                                         10,000 gateways have already been set up to relay Inter-              to link multiple satellites using lasers. In Tesat and My-
                                                                         net data to and from satellites.                                      naric, Germany has two companies that are advancing
                                                                            Starlink is now available (to beta testers, for the mo-            this technology. Together with the German Aerospace
                                                                         ment) in the US, Canada, Great Britain and Germany,                   Center, Tesat has developed an extremely small laser
                                                                         among other places. The company recently announced                    terminal that is only ten centimeters wide and ten cen-
                                                                         that more than 500,000 users have signed up for the ser-              timeters high. A corresponding prototype has been cir-
                                                                         vice. The experts at Quilty Analytics expect Starlink to en-          cling the Earth since January.
                                                                         ter a commercial phase once its number of satellites in-

                                                                                                                                                                                                            19
TITLE SPACE

north of the 50th parallel with Internet from space. In the       ent in order to achieve a sustainable customer model. The
long term, OneWeb wants to have even more satellites than         analysts see the economics of ground stations as the main
Starlink – 48,000, to be exact – and offer speeds of up to        challenge for Jeff Bezos’s project, as well.
one terabit per second.                                              Amazon has therefore focused on developing a phased
    OneWeb is owned by the British government and the In-         array antenna that is as compact and cost-effective as pos-
dian company Bharti Global. The satellite operator Eutel-         sible. It is succeeding, as well – according to Amazon itself,
sat also recently announced its plan to acquire a 24 percent      anyway. The company claims that at just 30 centimeters in
stake in the company. Eutelsat already offers Internet from       diameter, its antenna is three times smaller than those used
space at speeds of up to 100 megabits per second, but via         in conventional designs. Amazon has announced that re-
a geostationary satellite.                                        ducing weight, size and complexity is the best way to keep
    Meanwhile, OneWeb is not the only company compet-             the production costs of ground terminals in check.
ing for Starlink’s dominant position, and Elon Musk is not           The first prototypes of this in-house development re-
the only tech celebrity who wants to conquer space. Jeff          portedly proved reliable in tests. A speed of 400 megabits
Bezos also aims to bring Internet access to the people via        per second was achieved, though in communication with a
satellites. Amazon’s Project Kuiper is to start by launch-        GEO satellite. Amazon is thus promising even better per-
ing 236 satellites into low Earth orbit. The problem is that      formance in the future.
none of the Kuiper satellites is in place yet. While Ama-
zon currently lacks its own means of transport, Musk can          The EU’s direct line to national
use SpaceX to launch his Starlink satellites into space. The
company’s Falcon 9 rockets have already proven reliable in
                                                                  governments could help
numerous launches, 25 of which took place last year alone         eliminate disadvantages
(see the article starting on page 12).                            Making Internet access from space as simple to use and
    Amazon’s space program, Blue Origin, is not there             affordable as possible is crucial to the success of these var-
yet. This is why Bezos is planning to launch the first Kui-       ious projects. Starlink, OneWeb and Kuiper are all focus-
per satellites into LEO on an Atlas V rocket from United          ing on the private user market, where individual consum-
Launch Alliance. Amazon recently signed a contract for            ers will think long and hard about how much they are ready
nine launches with ULA. “We designed our satellites and           to spend on satellite broadband. In Germany, the Starlink
distribution system to work with several different kinds of       package is currently only available to a selected group of
launchers,” says Rajeev Badyal, Vice President of Techno­         beta testers. At the end of 2021 (or perhaps not until 2022),
logy for Project Kuiper. “This gives us the flexibility to use    the service will be open to anyone willing to pay €499 for
many different rockets and providers to launch our satel-         the satellite receiver and router and a €99 monthly usage
lite system.”                                                     fee. Sandro Scalise expects the growing market to have a
                                                                  positive impact on costs. “The more offers there are, the
Amazon’s advantage: LEO satellites                                more prices will fall,” he predicts. And there are many other
                                                                  companies seeking to enter the market besides those men-
need mobile terrestrial antennas                                  tioned here.
While Starlink is clearly ahead in space right now, Amazon            The EU may also be joining in. A study is currently
could even the score with its technology on the ground.           examining whether a separate EU network of LEO satel-
According to Sandro Scalise, department head at the In-           lites would be feasible. Various companies, including Air-
stitute of Communications and Navigation at the German            bus and the satellite manufacturer Thales Alenia Space, are
Aerospace Center (DLR), the greatest challenge with LEO           currently being discussed as potential participants in a cor-
concepts is the ground terminals involved. Unlike GEO             responding project.
satellites, LEO satellites do not stay in fixed locations. This       Whether it makes sense for the EU to enter a market in
means that the antennas on the ground also have to be mo-         which large companies have already invested a great deal
bile in order to track one satellite and switch to the next.      of money seems like a point worth discussing. As Quilty’s
“That makes ground terminals complicated and expen-               analysts have pointed out, however, European space com-
sive,” explains Scalise. Such terminals use phased array an-      panies differ from their counterparts in the US in that they
tennas, which function almost like a virtual parabolic an-        are closely linked to national governments. “This allows
tenna. Starlink has developed its own technology for this,        Europe to stay on track despite cost overruns and delays in
but it has not yet proven economical. According to a re-          its space projects,” they state in the aforementioned report.
port from Quilty Analytics, the company needs to reduce           In addition, politicians and business leaders are aware that
the cost of a single terminal from around $2,500 at pres-         European market shares in other space sectors have been

20
Internet access from space brings fast data connections to not only urban centers, but also remote regions of the world. Ensuring broadband access via satellite all over
                                              the globe will require an entire swarm of satellites and powerful antennas.

                                              shrinking. Europe will want to avoid a similar situation in                           net access from space. “Solutions must be found, and they
                                              the case of LEO broadband, which is why experts expect                                certainly will be,” he says. Scalise expects that there will
                                              the EU to take action in some form. Scalise points out that                           be a wide range of satellite broadband services “in a few
                                              dependence on a non-European provider is certainly not                                years” – and that some of the current projects surely will
                                              an attractive prospect, particularly in connection with ap-                           not last. “There’s enough demand for more than one pro-
                                              plications where security is a major concern.                                         vider, though,” he affirms.

                                              Already a great deal of satellites in orbit                                           To register to use Starlink, sign up here:
                                                                                                                                    ä www.starlink.com
                                              Regardless of whether the EU enters the business or not,
                                              the LEO space will be getting crowded in the future. There
                                              have already been reports of near-collisions between Star-
PHOTOS: PAGE 21: SDECORET / STOCK.ADOBE.COM

                                              link and OneWeb satellites. Amazon also feared that the
                                              SpaceX satellites (altitude: 540–570 km) could come too
                                              close to Bezos’s Kuiper satellites, which will orbit at 590–
                                              630 km. The FCC had to settle the case to avoid the risk
                                              of collisions. SpaceX must now ensure that its own sat-
                                              ellites do not fly higher than 580 kilometers and submit
                                              semiannual reports on their reliability. According to Scal-
                                              ise, however, the increasing traffic density in low Earth or-                         MARKUS STREHLITZ
                                              bit will not become a major hindrance in providing Inter-                             is a freelance journalist and editor for VDE dialog.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    21
TITLE SPACE

MARS MISSIONS

Heavenly questions
Suddenly, everybody wants to go to Mars. Some want to see whether there was once life on the red
planet; others are more interested in whether it will be possible to live there in the future. All of them want
the same thing, however: fame and prestige.

BY MARTIN SCHMITZ-KUHL

There are good reasons not to place Mars on your list of     three percent nitrogen, with the rest consisting of argon,
dream destinations. For example, it's colder there than      carbon monoxide, ozone, oxygen, water vapor, xenon and
in Antarctica. The annual average temperature is minus       krypton. All in all, it’s a rather hostile place.
68 degrees Celsius – approximately 80 degrees colder than       Mars doesn’t have much to offer in terms of landscape,
on Earth. Other things to consider are the lethal UV radi-   either – unless you’re into dusty stone deserts. It does at
ation and an atmosphere that's approximately 100 times       least have a solid surface, though, which is more than can
thinner than ours. It resembles the composition of car ex-   be said of Uranus, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune. The most
haust fumes: 95 percent carbon dioxide and just under        important point in Mars’ favor, meanwhile, is that it like-

22
There’s a lot happening on Mars
                                                                                                                                                                                      in 2021. While the United Arab
                                                                                                                                                                                      Emirates and its Al-Amal probe
                                                                                                                                                                                      (left-hand image) are “only”
                                                                                                                                                                                      orbiting the red planet, China
                                                                                                                                                                                      actually managed to release
                                                                                                                                                                                      a rover there in May (center
                                                                                                                                                                                      image). Only the Americans had
                                                                                                                                                                                      managed this before – and of
                                                                                                                                                                                      course, they once again have
                                                                                                                                                                                      a rover driving around on Mars
                                                                                                                                                                                      now. However, the more note-
                                                                                                                                                                                      worthy aspect of this mission is
                                                                                                                                                                                      that it has successfully launched
                                                                                                                                                                                      a drone on another planet for
                                                                                                                                                                                      the first time (right-hand image).

                                                                                ly has large volumes of water – just not in inviting lakes       to date, only 16 are considered to have succeeded. The 20
                                                                                and oceans, but frozen into the planet’s crust. This leads       attempts that have been made to land on the planet have
                                                                                scientists to conclude that there could once have been life      also had mixed results, with just ten of them achieving suc-
                                                                                there – or could still be even now.                              cess. The Soviets were once again the first to pull it off with
                                                                                   Above all, though, the planet is relatively quick to get      the Mars 3 probe in 1971; however, contact was lost after
                                                                                to. While Mars is sometimes more than 400 million kilo-          just 20 seconds, probably due to a dust storm. Until the
PHOTOS: PAGE 22/23: AXEL MONSE / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM, RAYMOND / STOCK.ADOBE.COM,

                                                                                meters away from the Earth, the two planets' orbits put          Chinese landing in May of this year, only the Americans
                                                                                them a neighborly 55 million kilometers apart every 26           had managed to touch down on the sandy surface.
                                                                                months. Theoretically, a fast spaceship would only need
                                                                                a good month to travel that distance. In actual fact, Earth      The Mars missions have long
                                                                                and Mars move at very different speeds and follow dif-
                                                                                ferent paths around the Sun. While Earth needs a year to
                                                                                                                                                 been more global than a simple
                                                                                complete the circuit, Mars takes twice as long. This means       East-West competition
                                                                                a spacecraft has to plan a much longer, elliptical flight path   Mars has never been more attractive than right now. In the
                                                                                that currently takes around nine months. In other words,         summer of 2020, no fewer than three missions embarked
NASA/JPL-CALTECH (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT)

                                                                                Mars can’t be reached quite that quickly after all.              on the long journey to the red planet, and all of them have
                                                                                   And yet Mars has been the focus of interplanetary oper-       now arrived. This accumulation of missions is not down to
                                                                                ations since 1960. Marsnik 1 was supposed to be the first        mere chance, and it's only partially explained by the fact
                                                                                rocket to at least fly past the red planet, but the mission      that the stars (ahem) had once again aligned particularly
                                                                                failed, as did the Soviet Union’s follow-up attempts in the      favorably. Another factor is that a flight to Mars not only
                                                                                1960s and 1970s. The West hasn’t always accomplished its         results in scientific knowledge; it's also linked to fame and
                                                                                goals, either: of the 22 Mars missions launched by the US        prestige both at home and abroad. While the East and West

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