A succession of satellite communications companies unveiled maritime services over the summer promising lower cost or greater capacity to deliver the data exchange needed to help make ships greener.
Some are based on new generations of low earth orbit satellites (LEOs) that circle the earth at lower altitudes than the geostationary (GEO) networks that currently are the backbone of shipping communications.
Promises were bandied around, especially for higher data speeds — termed lower latency in the lingo as LEOs fly closer to the earth’s surface, so signals do not have to go so far.
