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by grantbachman 4229 days ago
What is the cost/technical feasibility of SpaceX being able to broadcast this landing live? The barge will be miles out to sea where there are no cell towers, so how difficult would it be and how much would it cost to stream a video from the middle of the Atlantic?
4 comments
troymc 4229 days ago
I'm pretty sure they could send the live video signal up to a communications satellite in geostationary orbit. That satellite would relay the signal to a base station which would then broadcast it however they normally do.

There are lots of comsats in GEO; no doubt some of them are open to doing a deal, but I don't know the cost. Maybe an international TV news network would be willing to do it "for free" so long as they get exclusive access?

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JshWright 4228 days ago
Or they could just use an airplane to relay to signal. The technology isn't really the issue. The issue is they don't want to release a video of a rocket crashing into a barge (or the ocean next to a barge). They know such a video would be replayed in mainstream media without the "this was just a test that only had a 50/50 shot of working in the first place" context. Especially after F9R-Dev, an Antares, and SS2 all RUD'd in the past couple months.

That being said, they have announced that there will be cameras on the barge. The fact that they have announced that ahead of time makes it very likely we will see at least some footage in the days or weeks after the attempt (they'll just want to do it in a PR controlled way).

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morituri 4229 days ago
Apparently SpaceX has a solution for that, too - launching hundreds of micro-satellites to bring low-cost Internet access (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/531994668608024576)
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JshWright 4229 days ago
They won't do it live unless they are _really_ sure it will work.

Even if it's just a test that they know has a reasonable chance of failing, that's not how it will be portrayed in the mainstream media (see: the F9R-dev RUD)

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njharman 4229 days ago
Before cellphones there was this technology called TV. Which has been broadcasting live from around the world for decades. I think they can figure it out.
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