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Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites
191–200 of 252 posts
Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
Granted, I don't know the math and this is intuition from Kerbal Space Program, but I'm not sure that's right. Wouldn't two objects colliding at 0° and 90° orbits result in a higher apoapsis and the same periapsis? Wouldn't it be equivalent to a normal impulse? Some pieces of one of the satellites would have more energy than they did before the impact.
You are correct. The result would be an elliptical orbit, though, not the circular orbit that the post you replied to mentioned. I don't know if the person edited it after you replied, though.
Kerbal Space Program taught me so much, I now realize. I was able to follow and visualize everything in this thread due to that videogame. Neat.
Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm more worried about the future sudden need to stop supporting the existing internet once a few companies decide we should just use their new space internet, that seemsnlike the more profitable longterm play.
It’s the same internet, just like when we switched from dialup to broadband.
Not without net neutrality it isn’t.
Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites
#194Private corporations owning more and more utility infrastructure really concerns me. Is there a world where nations band together and launch this as public infrastructure rather than private corporations lobbying a USA government agency for permission?
The traditional justification for the government to own utilities is because they are a natural monopoly (e.g., the sewers), not because they are utilities. We should celebrate when technological advances changing things that previously were natural monopolies into competitive markets, like satellite internet. At the very least, this has to be be better than the terribly regulated private monopolies we see in the sta…
It could be argued satellite internet is also a natural monopoly / duopoly.
How many n-thousand satellite networks can there be?
How many companies / countries can afford to launch n-thousand satellites?
Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites
#195Private corporations owning more and more utility infrastructure really concerns me. Is there a world where nations band together and launch this as public infrastructure rather than private corporations lobbying a USA government agency for permission?
Sorry, but I don't agree with your premise in this case. How is adding another competitor a bad thing? If Amazon offers Internet via LEO satellites, and SpaceX does the same, and you have your regular telecoms using copper lines, and some wireless carriers offering 4G, and perhaps some community operators offering wireless -- how is all of this competition worse than a utility being provided by the government, which has absolutely no incentive to compete -- and can by law stop new entrants into the market?
Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
A single impact can't put something into a higher circular orbit-- it can create an elliptical orbit with a higher apogee (max distance), but the correspondingly nearer perigee (closest approach) means that it experiences more atmospheric drag and falls out of orbit faster.
I thought so too, but apparently this is not universally true. Some of the debris can be put in an orbit with a longer lifetime than the original satellite. I got into a long twitter argument with experts in this field, and I was proven false: some of the debris can have longer orbital lifetime and go to higher orbit. EDIT: Here: https://twitter.com/SpaceJosh/status/1119721780254371840 Always embarrassing to make a f…
You said:
> That seems unlikely, as that requires like 11km/s which is more than the sum of the two velocities[...]
Isn't the first problem here that you're assuming a spherical cow in a vacuum physics problem? Two satellites colliding aren't two indivisible pebbles colliding.
They're going to pulverize on impact, and some of the now-expanding debris cloud might even contain combustibles the satellites were carrying.
The debris also won't only collide once, there'll be a series of rapidly occurring re-collisions. Some of those might impart extra velocity on some of the expanding debris.
Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have any good sources on that? Not that I doubt you, but would like to read more on the subject.
See the cost of phased array, which Leo needs to work. They're significantly more expensive than standard parabolic dishes, and there's no evidence SpaceX has changed that.
Based on Elon's standard playbook, I'm guessing he's going to try to bring down unit economics with much larger scale in phased array manufacturing than we've seen in the past. If he didn't think he could do this, I don't think they'd be launching Starlink.
That said, I know almost nothing about phased arrays, so I don't know if it's expensive due to some fundamental reason, or if it's partly because it's been a niche/low volume device before now.
Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, there are competitors. Starlink (or any other proposed LEO constellation) offers a fundamentally better product as a result of low latency (ballpark 640ms vs 20ms). Which they get as a result of being in low earth orbit instead of geosynchronous orbit. Starlinks costs per unit bandwidth are almost certainly far lower, meaning the ability to out compete on price. I don't see the existing constellations remaining…
> Starlinks costs per unit bandwidth are almost certainly far lower Interesting, how do you know that?
It's an opinion based on:
- Number of satellites launched at once
- Stated bandwidth numbers of satellites
- Lack of concern over intentionally deorbitting satellites for testing and sending experimental prototypes to space with an apparently expected not negligible failure rate.
- Stated cost of the phased array groundstations (in the hundreds)
Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites
#199There goes my privacy! I can't even think about a horrible company like Amazon being an ISP too! Think about all the privacy issues that we are going to have! But if they do this, this is going to be good for the US broadband customers who don't have internet currently. Not to mention they are stuck with monopoly companies without any competition and options. This is going to wake Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and C…
It’s not just the idea that Amazon is going to be an ISP that you should worry about when it comes to their effect on internet privacy. They also recently purchased Eero.
Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've heard that at least with the SpaceX satellites, they have full plans for decommissioning with these satellites re-entering the atmosphere. I do agree that this is a real concern though, and we'd hope there's pretty careful consideration, considering the sheer number of satellites being launched. Still, space is big .. really big, even the space just above our planet. I don't put it past humanity to not fuck up s…
> I've heard that at least with the SpaceX satellites, they have full plans for decommissioning with these satellites re-entering the atmosphere. It's not just that they have plans to do so, they're low enough that they'll de-orbit fairly quickly on their own without active control (boost from their ion engines). Something pretty strange would have to happen for them not to eventually burn up.
Isn't the Kessler effect partly about creating further junk from a cascade of collisions? Even if the "junk" were to re-enter the atmosphere eventually, how long would that take? How long would access to space be cut off before the junk were to clear?