Eli5 Why can’t we use airplanes to create a starlink like internet?
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At a lower altitude an airplane doesn’t have a line of sight as great as a satellite, so you’d need many more of them. Airplanes would constantly use expensive fuel and need to replenish it by landing or a bigger plane. A satellite only needs a little bit of fuel to boost itself up and counteract minimal air drag. A plane also has to work against being pulled towards the Earth by gravity and experiences way more air resistance.
It might be possible to design a light plane that runs on solar power and doesn’t need to be refueled though, but only in ideal conditions where the sun shines on it directly, not around the poles in winter.
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