NATO tests satellite internet as backup to sabotaged undersea cables

Over the past couple years, undersea cables from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean have been severed in apparent acts of sabotage. Now a NATO-backed project has shown how to quickly re-establish the most critical communications using satellites.

The first demonstration of the $2.5 million HEIST project – short for Hybrid Space-submarine Architecture Ensuring Infosec of Telecommunications – took place in Sweden on 16 January. This test simulated how software can swiftly match outgoing data communications with available satellite internet providers, such as SpaceX’s Starlink and Viasat.