Microcom plans satellite "gateway" at ComSat site

For decades, the former Bartlett Earth Station and its large satellite dish stood at the end of Comsat Road. After years of relative abandonment, the property was sold, and the Cold War era dish removed, but a plan for new dishes on the site is in the works. KTNA’s Phillip Manning spoke with that project’s manager about what is coming next.

From large to small, and from few to many. That’s the plan, at least, for the former Bartlett Earth Station on Comsat Road.

Alexander Schumann is managing the new project, and says it will be one part of a global satellite network.

“The main client for our new telecom facility will be OneWeb, and OneWeb is launching between 600 and 900 low-Earth-orbit satellite constellations. They will have fifty gateway locations around the world.”

As the name suggests, OneWeb’s goal is a global satellite internet network. That means multiple locations around the globe to receive signals from, and transmit to, the many satellites in orbit. Microcom, the company that Schumann works for, was chosen to build the Alaska gateway. Schumann says, while the site will once again host dishes, that the arrangement will look rather different.

“There will be twenty-six antennas that are 3.5 meters, so much smaller than the…15 meter that I believe were there on the earth station for the last forty years or so.”

There is significance to the former Bartlett Earth Station site beyond telecoms, however. Multiple trails pass through the area, and the end of Comsat Road itself functions as a trailhead. Alexander Schumann says Microcom is very aware of that, and wants to make it so that the new site and trail users can co-exist.

“To start, we’re looking at deeding some land to the borough, so the borough can create a managed parking lot there at the end of Comsat Road instead of just the abandoned cul-de-sac, there. So, people can park their trucks, snowmachine trailers, and other vehicles in an actual managed parking lot….”

In addition, Schumann says there is a plan underway to realign the Comsat connector trail to make it line up more with the existing road.

When Alexander Schumann presented plans to the Talkeetna Community Council earlier this winter, some locals raised concerns about impacts on the view shed. In particular, recently constructed cell towers can block views, and some consider their safety lights unsightly. Schumann says there is no plan for cell towers on the site, and that building one would be detrimental to the current plan.

“Even if there was a good deal to put one there…I don’t think that’s possible, because the satellite antennas need clear line of sight to the satellite, and any large structure like that would block the antenna’s view.”

Construction on the site is planned to begin this spring, and Schumann says there will be a few permanent jobs available once the facility is built this fall. After that comes a year or so of testing before the new OneWeb service would potentially become available.