A 'polar silk road' and a satellite rush in Alaska

Satellite operators are looking north. Way north. As the U.S., 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 also has infrastructure for satellites, including fiber optic cables to transmit data. “You can only put satellite dishes where there’s fiber,”