Bringing The World To The Most Remote Spot On Earth
By John Oncea, Editor
High-speed broadband satellite communication might be slower than cable and fiber internet but for the most remote community on Earth, it could be a blessing.
Apollo 13 famously went wrong on April 11, 1970, when it sustained an explosion in the oxygen tank of the Service Module, which in turn crippled the Command Module.
“For the safety of three astronauts, a team of scientists and engineers at Houston came up with a life-saving idea,” writes LabXcahnge. “To bring the trio back to Earth safely, they directed the astronauts to pilot the shuttle into a free return trajectory, using the Moon’s gravity as a slingshot to return to Earth.”
To achieve this, the shuttle passed over the far, or dark side of the Moon at an altitude of 158 miles from the lunar surface. At that point, Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert were 248,655 miles away from Earth, the farthest anyone has ever been from other humans.
Speaking of spacecraft, the International Space Station (ISS) is about 250 miles above sea level when it’s directly overhead. At that distance, the people aboard the ISS are closer to Point Nemo than Point Nemo is to any land in the world.
At more than 1,600 miles from terra firma in all directions, Point Nemo – located in the South Pacific Ocean - is the most remote location on planet Earth. Situated far from any landmass, with no shipping routes passing through it, Point Nemo is known as an oceanic pole of inaccessibility.
“It is where decommissioned spacecraft go to die,” Marine Digital writes. “For example, when the Russian space station, Mir, was decommissioned, the oceanic pole of inaccessibility was chosen as the spot for it to crash land to ensure the debris generated by its re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere didn't cause damage on land. As a result, a veritable spacecraft cemetery has been created over the years around Point Nemo.”
It’s so remote that during Leg 7 of the 2017 Volvo Ocean Race (now known as The Ocean Race), which ran from Auckland, New Zealand to Itajai, Brazil, it took the fasted boat 15 days, 10 hours, and 37 minutes to get there.
Now, as far away as the Apollo 13 astronauts were from Earth and The Ocean Race boats crossing Point Nemo were from land, communication was possible. And at 15.2 billion miles away, NASA is communicating with Voyager 1, currently the most distant human-made object from our planet.
So, why is communication with the 270 or so permanent residents of Tristan da Cunha so difficult?
The Absolute Farthest You Can Be From Any Other Human Being
Tristan da Cunha, a British Overseas Territory in the middle of the South Atlantic between South America and Africa, is the world’s most remote human settlement. Tall cliffs surround most of the 38-square-mile circular island making much of it uninhabitable and exceedingly difficult to access.
According to Everything Everywhere Daily, the closest humans to Tristan da Cunha live on the island of Saint Helena, which is 1,500 miles away. To the east, Cape Town, South Africa is 1,732 miles away and, if you go west, the closest point in South America is almost 2,500 miles away.
“The island was first discovered in 1506 by the Portuguese explorer Tristan da Cunha after whom the island is named after,” notes Everything Everywhere Daily. “Even though he sighted the island, he didn’t attempt a landing because the seas were too rough. A common occurrence that still is a problem today.
The history of the island is fascinating, from its discovery by Portuguese explorer Tristan da Cunha in 1506 to the British vetoing it as a place to send convicts in 1785 because “it wasn’t suitable for habitation” to its inhabitants not knowing World War I had taken place because from 1909 to 1919 not a single ship stopped at the island.
“Perhaps the biggest event since the island was inhabited took place in 1961 when the volcano in the center of the island erupted,” Everything Everywhere Daily reports. “The entire population of the island, which was 264 people at the time, had to flee in fishing boats to nearby uninhabited Nightengale Island. A nearby passenger ship came to evacuate the islanders the next day and took them to Cape Town. Most of the population returned in 1963.”
Communication With The Outside World
Tristan da Cunha, while still extremely remote, is not as isolated as it once was. It now has access to satellite television and shortwave radio. Amateur radio operator groups, including ZD9ZS, sometimes conduct DX-peditions on the island.
The government and Tristan da Cunha Association jointly run the island’s official website with all practical information, news, and facts about the island. While the site is updated from mainland U.K. due to slow internet, the photos taken and uploaded from Tristan da Cunha are all in low resolution, which allows online navigation in the territory with acceptable speed.
“For many years, radio was the main real time means of communicating with the outside world,” writes Tristan da Cunha’s Public Works department. “It remains important today, not least for ship-to-shore communications.”
Local television began in 1984 using taped programming on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday evenings. According to the BBC, live television did not arrive on the island until 2001, with the introduction of the British Forces Broadcasting Service. Currently, six channels are available, all of them relayed to islanders via local transmitters.
Satellite-delivered internet access arrived in 1998, but its high cost initially made it almost unaffordable, even if only sending an email. The connection also was extremely unreliable, connecting through a 64 kbit/s satellite phone connection provided by British satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat.
Satellite equipment was erected in 2003 and is still in use today, downloading transmissions by the British Forces Broadcasting Service beamed to members of the Armed Forces serving overseas and rebroadcasts it to Tristan households. The same equipment also allows each home to have a telephone, which before 2007 was too costly for everyday use.
2006 was a big year for communication efforts on Tristan da Cunha with the erection of a very-small-aperture terminal that has provided bandwidth for government purposes and is also made available via an internet café and (after office hours) via Wi-Fi to island homes. The same year, the island was assigned a telephone country code, +290, by the International Telecommunication Network.
A year later, IBM and Beacon Equity Partners, co-operating with Medweb, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and the island’s government, supplied Tristan da Cunha’s doctor with access to long-distance tele-medical help, writes Diagonitcis and Interventional Cardiology. This made it possible to send EKG and X-ray pictures to doctors in other countries for instant consultation.
Internet service is currently available although the bandwidth is currently extremely limited, so video and large email attachments have to be kept to a minimum. There is not yet any mobile phone coverage on the island.
High-Speed Broadband Satellite Internet To The Rescue
Everything Everywhere Daily suggests high-speed broadband internet would be a boon to Tristan da Cunha’s ability to communicate with the outside world. “It would give the island easy communication with the rest of the world and open the door to telecommuting jobs which are currently impossible. This also will allow for telemedicine, remote education, and a host of other things that all of us take for granted.”
High-speed broadband satellite internet is access provided via communication satellites that can deliver high-speed broadband connectivity, according to Viasat. In this scenario, internet signals are transmitted between satellites orbiting the Earth and small dish antennas installed at users’ locations. Current satellite internet offers download speeds of up to 150 Mbps in some areas and newer systems are promising even faster speeds.
Satellite internet can provide connectivity to remote and rural areas where traditional terrestrial networks are unavailable or impractical, such as Trista da Cunha. Geostationary (GEO) satellites are positioned about 22,300 miles above the equator and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations such as Starlink use thousands of satellites in lower orbits to reduce latency.
This system provides wide availability in remote locations and is not dependent on terrestrial infrastructure, providing increased resilience during natural disasters or emergencies. While it also comes with higher latency compared to fiber or cable (especially with GEO satellites), as well as a potential for weather-related disruptions, it is better than nothing, the current alternative for remote locations like Tristan da Cunha.
Other advantages offered by high-speed broadband satellite internet include:
- Increased bandwidth: The island currently has extremely limited bandwidth, estimated at only around 10 Mbps shared among all residents. A high-speed satellite service could provide much greater capacity, allowing more simultaneous users and faster speeds.
- Improved reliability: The current satellite connection is described as “extremely unreliable.” Modern satellite broadband systems tend to offer more stable and consistent service.
- Lower latency: LEO constellations can provide lower latency than traditional geostationary satellites, enabling better real-time communications.
- Extended availability: Currently, public Wi-Fi is only available for limited hours each day. High-speed satellite could potentially allow 24/7 internet access.
- Enhanced services: Faster speeds could enable services like video calling, streaming, and cloud computing that are difficult or impossible with the current slow connection.
- Economic opportunities: Better internet could open up possibilities for remote work, online education, and e-commerce for islanders.
- Improved emergency communications: Reliable high-speed internet could enhance the island’s ability to communicate during emergencies or natural disasters.
- Access to information: Faster internet would give residents better access to news, educational resources, and entertainment from around the world.
- Government services: Online government services and communication with the U.K. government could be improved.
- Tourism potential: Better internet connectivity could make the island more attractive to visitors and help promote tourism.
Beyond residential use, satellite internet is crucial for maritime communications, aviation, emergency services, and connecting underserved regions. While implementing such a system would face challenges due to Tristan da Cunha’s extreme remoteness, it could significantly enhance the quality of life and opportunities for the island's residents making it an increasingly viable option for bridging the digital divide.