The recent flood of investment in audacious commercial space projects is spookily reminiscent of the late-1990s satellite gold rush, which famously turned into a rout. Google stepped up last year with its nearly $500 million purchase of satellite imaging startup Skybox and followed that up with a $900 investment in SpaceX's newly announced plan to deploy a 4,000-sat-ellite Internet-delivery constellation, which is also being backed by Fidelity Investments. Meanwhile, chipmaker Qualcomm and Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group have cast their lot with the 650-satellite OneWeb Internet venture led by O3b founder Greg Wyler.
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