For those getting too excited, or in your spacecraft history-tracking correspondent’s case, too fretful, over the prospect of constellations of hundreds or even thousands of communications satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), a word, or rather a table, of amusing sense came from Roger Rusch, long time space industry expert and President of the space industry consulting firm TelAstra Inc.
In his time, Roger Rusch has witnessed the rise and fall of past waves of similar LEO constellations including Iridium and Globalstar (the first bankruptcy time around), the still-born Teledesic and Skybridge, etc. plus a few business failures in other orbits including ICO and Astrolink etc. In the table, Roger paints a picture of just how much expertise and luck each type of space communications operation needs to succeed. It is very amusing…especially the hint to Elon Musk of SpaceX that he will need to get some serious help from the heavens to get his 4,000 satellite operation off the ground.
| Satellite Complexity Index | |||
| Level | Example | Skill set | Assessment or action required |
| 1 | Cubesat | High school | Be able to read kit instructions, inexperienced millennials preferred |
| 2 | SkyBox | gymnasium | Be able to deconstruct Smart phone & digital cameras |
| 3 | C-band only | some college | Read engineering drawings and specs carefully |
| 4 | C & Ku band | University BS | Attend all staff meetings for the latest anomalies |
| 5 | Viasat 1/2 | grad school | |
| 6 | Spaceway | Post graduate | |
| 7 | Globalstar | Heavy drinking | Budget your personal finances carefully |
| 8 | Iridium | Marijuana | Save your money for after the bankruptcy |
| 9 | NetOne WorldVu | Opiates | Requires at least one miracle. Start praying. |
| 10 | SpaceX 4,000 | Transcendental | Requires multiple miracles. Sell house. Move into religious order |
