Space Race With China Drives Antenna-Building Boom in Arctic

Satellite operators are looking north. Way north. As the US, China and others compete in space, the need for fast and frequent communication links with satellites orbiting near the North Pole is making Arctic ground stations a hot commodity.

That’s turned Deadhorse, Alaska, into an unlikely outpost in the space race. The community on the North Slope tundra, about 850 miles north of Anchorage by road, is the gateway to the Prudhoe Bay oil field. Virtually everything there exists to support the extraction of fossil fuels. There’s no hospital, bank or school, but there are prefab dorms for workers and a general store selling bear spray.

Deadhorse ...