76: Wi-Fi in Space with Brian Barnett and Solstar Space

Published: June 4, 2020, 7:36 p.m.

Brian is the CEO of Solstar Space Company where they are working to create a \u2018Space Wide Web\u2019 to connect everything in space, to everyone on Earth. Solstar\u2019s mission is to build and create the tools necessary to enable 24/7 secure, economical, convenient, two-way, internet-based communications with every \u201cthing\u201d in space, to be the ISP of choice in Earth Orbit and beyond.

\u201cWe are able to provide a Wi-Fi connection for payloads, and payload specialists, as well as future astronauts, during take off, landing and throughout their spaceflight.

In 2018 we sent the first commercial Tweet from Space. Imagine the first phone call during a commercial flight, the first selfie sent from the K\xe1rm\xe1n line, and the first instant results from payloads on-board a commercial spacecraft. Solstar Space Company can make that happen.\u201d -Brian Barnett

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NASA has government-supplied wi-fi for the current astronauts. But what about when commercial astronauts and you and I go to space? We\u2019re going to want to be wi-fi connected, too- along with rovers, robots wi-fi enabled payloads to be connected, too. Brian\u2019s company, Solstar Space, if working on providing world-class customer service, and we believe that this will revolutionize

\u201cWe enable you to do things for the first time in space. There are an infinite number of things people can do for the first time in space! We did the first commercial wi-fi in space, and the first commercial tweet in space, and I want to fly the first drumsticks in space as the first drummer!\u201d -Brian Barnett from the Casual Space Podcast

\u201cSolstar is providing a commercial wi-fi service that people can purchase. More and more people will be flying in space, and wi-fi will be used for things in space- laptops, smartphones, wearable devices that astronauts will want to stay connected to.\u201d- Brian Barnett from the Casual Space Podcast\xa0

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About Brian Barnett:\xa0

Brian Barnett\xa0 barnett@solstarspace.com

Brian Barnett\xa0is a serial entrepreneur with 33 years\u2019 experience in commercial space, the mobile satellite services industry, as a aerospace technologies at NASA, and at KPMG Consulting as a management consultant.\xa0 He is Founder and CEO of Solstar Space Co., the first internet service provider for people, Internet of things and machines in space is that is developing technologies to build a Space Wide Web. On April 29th, 2018, Solstar demonstrated the first commercial two-way data and wi-fi hotspot service in space and Tweet from space aboard Blue Origin\u2019s New Shepard crew capsule, using Barnett\u2019s patent-pending technology. Mr. Barnett began his career at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center where he provided Space Shuttle payload integration services at the Payloads Project Office.\xa0

He also provided astronaut crew training in the Mission Operations Laboratory for Spacelab missions. At Johnson Space Center, he worked in the Missions Operations Directorate, and later worked on JSC\u2019s 1992 Strategic Plan.\xa0 He also managed a contract to document all Space Shuttle operations processes as directed by Congress after the Challenger accident. Later, as a management consultant for KPMG\u2019s Space and High Technology group, he wrote dozens of business plans and market assessments for commercial space companies.\xa0

This is the group that very early and accurately, predicted that GPS applications would grow into the huge market it is today.\xa0 Barnett led the Team that wrote the initial business plan and helped identify the best location for the spaceport that eventually became Spaceport America in New Mexico.\xa0 Solstar Space is his third\xa0commercial space start-up.\xa0 He earned a B.S. in microbiology from the University of Oklahoma, a Masters in Administrative Science from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and is a graduate of the International Space University.\xa0 Mr. Barnett is a classically-trained rock and reggae drummer and is founder and producer of\xa0 DrumsAstro\xae, an organization Connecting Artists and Musicians of all Genres to Space and Space Exploration.

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About Soltar: www.SolstarSpace.com and www.Solstar.net

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Solstar is the leading commercial satellite communications company pioneering the use of WiFi in space. We use existing commercial communications satellite networks in Low Earth Orbit and Geostationary Earth Orbit. We provide space-to-space communications on spacecraft and bi-directional two-way data services for payloaders.

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  • Solstar is:\xa0 Harnessing the power of the very best existing infrastructure to facilitate constant communication with space assets such as SmallSats, Astronauts, LEO platforms, suborbital/orbital spacecraft, and eventually Lunar and Mars exploration.
  • Revolutionizing the way people on Earth communicate and interact with their payloads in space
  • Improving the way space research is conducted and communicated from space to the ground and back again
  • Protecting valuable space assets through enhanced two-way communication opportunities for troubleshooting, diagnosing, and resolving issues.
  • Providing reliable emergency backup communications for people and things in space
  • Helping to solve the space junk problem enabling our customers to send the \u201cre-enter\u201d command using our embedded space communicator and service.
  • Providing 24/7 customer service to payloaders/researchers previously not available to the market