Elon Musk said he would use SpaceX Starlink to bring the internet to the tiny island nation of Tonga, but then withdrew his offer shortly after making the statement.
Tonga was devastated on January 15 when a volcano erupted with the force of 500 atomic bombs, paralyzing the region’s internet for at least the next month.
Musk tweeted on Friday: “People of Tongan, let us know if it is important for SpaceX to ship Starlink terminals.”
Whangarei-based MP Dr. Shane Reti sent Musk a letter shortly after learning of the proposal asking if his space-based internet could help the Tongans.
Everything was going according to plan until a few hours later, when Musk broke the news: “This is a tough thing for us to do right now.”
Musk says SpaceX doesn’t have enough internet satellites to help Tongans: the company has 2,000 devices in Earth orbit.
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Elon Musk said he would use SpaceX Starlink to bring the internet to the tiny island nation of Tonga, but then withdrew his offer shortly after making the statement.
The volcano creates a ‘big explosion’ that occurs once every thousand years.
This triggered a 7.4-magnitude earthquake, sending tsunami waves crashing into the island, leaving it covered in ash and cut off from outside help.
The explosion, which killed at least three people and sent a tsunami wave across the Pacific, cut communications across the country for about 105,000 people.
In the US, waves of more than four feet were reported off the coast of California on Saturday, and tsunami-like waves were reported along the coasts of Oregon, Washington, British Columbia in Canada and Alaska.
Whangarei-based MP Dr. Shane Reti sent Musk a letter shortly after learning of the proposal asking if his space-based internet could help the Tongans.
Everything was going according to plan until a few hours later, when Musk broke the news: “This is a tough thing for us to do right now.” Musk says SpaceX doesn’t have enough internet satellites to help Tongans: the company has 2,000 devices in Earth orbit.
Musk took the opportunity to help out by offering his Starlink satellite internet, which would require SpaceX to move the satellite over Tonga.
And this is where the problem arises.
Shortly after offering internet streaming, the billionaire tweeted: “We don’t have enough satellites with laser links and there are already geosatellites serving the Tonga region.”
Geo satellites include tools for weather forecasting, radio and satellite television.
Musk used the opportunity to help out by offering his Starlink satellite internet, which would require SpaceX to move the satellite over Tonga.
And with a geographic satellite over Tonga, there’s no room for Musk to move his Starlink.
A Twitter user by the name of Christina jumped into the conversation, saying: ‘Starlink requires ground stations for satellites to have internet access.
“But there can’t be a land station in Tonga because the submarine cables aren’t working.”
Telephone links between Tonga and the rest of the world began to reconnect on Wednesday night, although full restoration of internet connectivity is likely to take a month or more, according to the owner of the islands’ only underwater communications cable.
The volcano creates a ‘big explosion’ that occurs once every thousand years. This triggered a 7.4-magnitude earthquake, sending tsunami waves crashing into the island, leaving it covered in ash and cut off from outside help.
Full network service will not be available until the submarine cables are repaired, telecom operator Digicel said. A special boat will depart Port Moresby on a repair trip over the weekend, said Samiuela Fonua, chairman of cable owner Tonga Cable Ltd.
But with eight or nine days of sailing to retrieve equipment in Samoa, then an uncertain trip to the fault in the area of the eruption, he said he would be “lucky” if the work was completed within a month.
“It could take longer than that,” he said by phone from Auckland, where he is coordinating repairs.
The giant explosion was also spotted by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and NASA recently shared an image taken from the ship’s dome window, showing layers of ash from the plume being flung thousands of feet into the atmosphere.
Image taken by NASA astronaut Kayla Barron as the station passes through New Zealand, 1,200 miles from the volcano’s location, which is not visible in the frame, looking down from 253 miles above Earth.
‘The actual cable is around the volcanic area. We don’t know . . . if they’re still intact, or blown away, or trapped somewhere underwater. We don’t know if it’s buried any deeper.
The giant explosion was also seen by astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) and NASA recently shared an image taken from the ship’s dome window, showing layers of ash from the column being flung thousands of feet into the atmosphere.
Image taken by NASA astronaut Kayla Barron as the station passes through New Zealand, 1,200 miles from the volcano’s location, which is not visible in the frame, looking down from 253 miles above Earth.
Astronaut Barron ‘opened the window’ of the dome on Sunday and saw the effects of the eruption, pulling out his camera to capture the effect.
“Ashes from Saturday’s underwater volcanic eruption in the remote Pacific nation of Tonga exploded thousands of feet into the atmosphere and visible from @Space_Station,” Barron shared in a tweet on his personal Twitter account.
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