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Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites

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211–220 of 252 posts

Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites

#211
post #210

At what point should we start worrying about Kessler Syndrome? > The Kessler syndrome (also called the Kessler effect,[1][2] collisional cascading or ablation cascade), proposed by the NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler in 1978, is a scenario in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit (LEO) is high enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascade in which each collision generates space debris that i…

Think about it in terms of cars. Imagine spread out 3k cars around the surface of the earth. Each car will be thousands of Km away from each other. For example New York has 5 million registered cars. And they manage to use only a fraction of available land dedicated to roads. So I don’t think 3k is anything for a orbit around earth, which is also much bigger than the surface of the earth itself Edit: I am not saying…

It’s not 3000 completely self-container items. It’s 3000 satellites with hundreds and hundreds of parts inside, each of which can splinter into thousands of pieces.

I hope you know about how dangerous space debris is for space exploration. Each of those tiny pieces move faster than bullets around the Earth.

Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites

#212
post #210

At what point should we start worrying about Kessler Syndrome? > The Kessler syndrome (also called the Kessler effect,[1][2] collisional cascading or ablation cascade), proposed by the NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler in 1978, is a scenario in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit (LEO) is high enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascade in which each collision generates space debris that i…

Think about it in terms of cars. Imagine spread out 3k cars around the surface of the earth. Each car will be thousands of Km away from each other. For example New York has 5 million registered cars. And they manage to use only a fraction of available land dedicated to roads. So I don’t think 3k is anything for a orbit around earth, which is also much bigger than the surface of the earth itself Edit: I am not saying…

Sandra Bullock in Gravity would disagree: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454468/

(SPOILER: The debris from one satellite wiped out all the others, including the ISS)

;-)

Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you considering “having cheaper stuff” actually progress in terms of humanity ?

Sure, why not? Cheaper stuff, from another angle, means you can work fewer hours to achieve the same lifestyle. And that's pretty good!

But you don't. None of us do. At some point theory has to run into a reality check.

Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites

#214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Terrifying power? Amazon has succeeded by getting customers what they want, and doing it cheaper, faster and more conveniently than their competition. Of all the tech companies to be cynical about, they most obviously make people's lives better , and expanding their reach (along with the "ancillary benefits" of giving people access to the internet...) is a moral good. Really, this knee-jerk paranoia is difficult to u…

"If Amazon stops serving its customers well it'll go out of business. If it pisses people off it'll go out of business." This is the central myth of the free market. Part and parcel of a massive internet company is having control over the flow of information, how can people protect their rights if they don't even know they're being violated, or if they're being distracted from protecting themselves by lies and manipu…

This is literally Big Data in practice. If a superhuman level of intelligence is achieved (as in, comprehension beyond that which any individual human could possibly contain) it will be in the field of controlling groups of humans' behavior.

We could already be there. We won't know, because by definition we won't be able to grasp the scope of it.

My own theory is that this is the strong claim to a-life as practiced by collective organisms. To a cell, a human is a bunch of nearby cells, but to the human, the cell could be a potential fingernail clipping. To collective a-life, humans are no longer the point.

Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites

#215
Surely every country around the world needs to be involved in approving something like this. Amazon does not get my vote to put anything that could potentially become space junk in the air above South Africa.

Not yet at least. What is the benefit to humanity as a whole?

Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites

#216
post #210

At what point should we start worrying about Kessler Syndrome? > The Kessler syndrome (also called the Kessler effect,[1][2] collisional cascading or ablation cascade), proposed by the NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler in 1978, is a scenario in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit (LEO) is high enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascade in which each collision generates space debris that i…

Think about it in terms of cars. Imagine spread out 3k cars around the surface of the earth. Each car will be thousands of Km away from each other. For example New York has 5 million registered cars. And they manage to use only a fraction of available land dedicated to roads. So I don’t think 3k is anything for a orbit around earth, which is also much bigger than the surface of the earth itself Edit: I am not saying…

But satellite collisions can, and indeed already have, happened: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_satellite_collision

Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites

#217
post #215

Surely every country around the world needs to be involved in approving something like this. Amazon does not get my vote to put anything that could potentially become space junk in the air above South Africa. Not yet at least. What is the benefit to humanity as a whole?

I am with you here but:

1. It's never about what benefits humanity, it's just about money most of the times

2. Every country and probably several companies of each country will do this as long as we are the divided world we have to live in

3. Just like the internet never became the awesome tool one might see in series like Star Trek (benefit of humanity & stuff like that) something like this will never be that awesome and useful. Until there'd be a market that forces people/companies to act like that. So I think our world is a place where incentives lead us to do the wrong things that actually hinder humanity in it's progress and positive development.

Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites

#218
post #215

Surely every country around the world needs to be involved in approving something like this. Amazon does not get my vote to put anything that could potentially become space junk in the air above South Africa. Not yet at least. What is the benefit to humanity as a whole?

I imagine these are, like SpaceX's, low orbit satellites which decay and fall to earth over time. There should be no Kessler syndrome risk here.

Re: Amazon Seeks Permission to Launch 3k Internet Satellites

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bigger issue is all these satellites outnumbering the total number stars visible from Earth. It has astronomers worried. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/01/science/starlink-spacex-a...

Astronomy is fine and all but I think this is more important.

The Big Bang vs Cat videos?
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