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SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks

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Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks

#21

Post by BooneJS »

dcgoss wrote: post #7
BooneJS wrote: post #3

My high school daughter has really gotten into astronomy and space in the last few years, and is torn between celebrating the 9th use of the same first-stage rocket and hating the pieces of space junk it’s delivering to low earth orbit.

It’s not space junk. When they’re ready to be decommissioned or they fail, the thrusters turn off and the whole thing descends into the atmosphere and burns up.

I think terminology can mean different things to different people. Typically space junk refers to decommissioned or otherwise useless satellites. But if you’re a ground-based astronomer taking long exposure photographs, the trails of reflective satellites are of no use to you.

Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks

#22

Post by BooneJS »

Robotbeat wrote: post #8
bombcar wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t low earth orbit the best place for space junk as it burns up relatively easily?

Yeah, and SpaceX has gone through extraordinary lengths to reduce the visibility of Starlink satellites. However, the astronomy community overall hates it and it’s kind of a meme now.

Like most engineering projects with continuous improvement, the newer satellites are less reflective than the older ones.

Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks

#23

Post by Roritharr »

rfrey wrote: post #11
kiba wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China will just confiscate any satellite dishes. SpaceX will comply if they want the market, or someone else will.

I think the "if Amazon/Google/FB don't comply, someone else will take their place" argument is weaker when replacement requires a constellation of thousands of satellites.

I wonder if the USG would consider the shooting down of Starlink Satellites as an act of war after SpaceX refuses to comply with chinese regulations.

It's probably all moot as China would probably simply halt Tesla Sales, as they are not bound by the logics of legality.

Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks

#24

Post by mempko »

On my early morning walk I can see the satellites as very bright (much brighter than the stars) line across the sky. It's clear they didn't do enough about the reflectivity issue.

Edit: Already downvoted for stating a fact. Amazing.

Edit: Changed 'did nothing' to 'didn't do enough'

Edit: Looks like experts still believe reflectivity is still a problem: https://physicsworld.com/a/dark-coated-starlink-satellites-a...

Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks

#25

Post by slickrick216 »

kiba wrote: post #6
Magodo wrote: post #4

I'm keen to see Starlink deals with government censorship requests. Can a country even effectively enforce their requests? How will China enforce the Great Firewall for instance?

China will just confiscate any satellite dishes. SpaceX will comply if they want the market, or someone else will.

SpaceX will deploy a low orbit ion cannon and DoS the Chinese censors.

Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks

#26

Post by mempko »

immmmmm wrote: post #14

am i the only person thinking that there should be laws to prevent rich individuals to increase the mass in LEO by a factor 10 in less than 10 years? i understand the enthusiasm but shouldn't these decisions let to the people, countries, for instance an intergouvernemental agency. also: is the dark coating working? without it those are quite visible, and make radio and optical astronomy much harder (especially large…

FCC actually gave Spacex 900 million to put those things up there. So Musk will profit at our expense. Are all his businesses government subsidized?

I could still see the trail of them before dusk so it appears it isn't working.

edit: the experts agree that spacex didn't do enough to reduce reflectivity and that it's still an issue. https://physicsworld.com/a/dark-coated-starlink-satellites-a...

Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks

#27

Post by kitsunesoba »

mempko wrote: post #26
immmmmm wrote: post #14

am i the only person thinking that there should be laws to prevent rich individuals to increase the mass in LEO by a factor 10 in less than 10 years? i understand the enthusiasm but shouldn't these decisions let to the people, countries, for instance an intergouvernemental agency. also: is the dark coating working? without it those are quite visible, and make radio and optical astronomy much harder (especially large…

FCC actually gave Spacex 900 million to put those things up there. So Musk will profit at our expense. Are all his businesses government subsidized? I could still see the trail of them before dusk so it appears it isn't working. edit: the experts agree that spacex didn't do enough to reduce reflectivity and that it's still an issue. https://physicsworld.com/a/dark-coated-starlink-satellites-a...

If you're seeing trains of satellites, those have not yet reached their parking orbits and have not oriented themselves or deployed their sunshades. Once they've gotten to where they're intended to be, they'll become far more dim and for the most part should only be visible during a brief period around dusk.

Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks

#28

Post by ben_w »

castratikron wrote: post #16
kiba wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China will just confiscate any satellite dishes. SpaceX will comply if they want the market, or someone else will.

Seems like there's an opportunity to produce an open-source SpaceX compatible antenna that someone could build themselves. I wonder if at some point SpaceX could allow this on their network?

I’m not an electrical engineer, but (both) family members who got electronics qualifications have told me RF phase matching circuits are a PITA to build right, and this antenna is a many-element phased array.

They told me this about 20 years ago and I don’t know what’s changed since then. Presumably someone here knows if it’s still hard or if it became easy since 2001?

Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks

#30

Post by mempko »

kitsunesoba wrote: post #27
mempko wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FCC actually gave Spacex 900 million to put those things up there. So Musk will profit at our expense. Are all his businesses government subsidized? I could still see the trail of them before dusk so it appears it isn't working. edit: the experts agree that spacex didn't do enough to reduce reflectivity and that it's still an issue. https://physicsworld.com/a/dark-coated-starlink-satellites-a...

If you're seeing trains of satellites, those have not yet reached their parking orbits and have not oriented themselves or deployed their sunshades. Once they've gotten to where they're intended to be, they'll become far more dim and for the most part should only be visible during a brief period around dusk.

So they haven't solved the reflectivity issue? Solving it would mean they aren't visible at all with the naked eye. Since there are thousands of them, this is a problem for land based observation no?

edit: looks like it's still a problem according to experts. https://physicsworld.com/a/dark-coated-starlink-satellites-a...

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