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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

#71
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"at our expense"? You clearly don't have to deal with rural internet if you think this is a net loss for society.

It could have been a non-profit operation no? I would expect rural internet to be cheaper than what SpaceX is charging. $100 per month is very expensive, especially for people in rural areas which generally are poorer. Example, I believe over 90% of rural china has high speed internet and they pay less than $10 a month. Edit. Anyone have a good argument why we can't get $10 per month high speed internet in rural area…

The problem with laying fiber in the continental US (and I suspect also in Canada) is not typically cost. It's death by a thousand cuts with problems acquiring land rights, fighting incumbent ISPs and the local politicians and congressmen in their pockets, and simple will on the part of ISPs.

Google tried to make fiber cheap and ubiquitous with Google Fiber and failed. If an organization with the power, resources, and clout of Google can't get it done, I don't know who can short of the federal government getting involved (which, thanks to lobbyists, is unlikely).

LEO constellations bypass these issues almost entirely and ironically enough may motivate incumbent ISPs to try to compete and stop being so obstructive.

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

#72

So where is Amazon in relation to all of this? I got pinged by a recruiter from Kuiper the other week and all I can see is that there's no way they're on track to be working in 5 years. They don't even have a stable launch platform. Would Musk sell Bezos the ride?

Would there be potential AWS synergies that make any sense?

Besides having the money to basically give it away for free, that could be a big value add if so.

idk maybe enabling the blanketing of the earth in ever expanding ring/echo surveillance. or a cdn though uploading huge video files to a satellite hard drive might not make any sense or actually save any MS given the inherent satellite -> earth delay.

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

#73
post #50

I'm really concerned about the alarms raised by Scientific in regards to "Space Pollution".[0] Elon Musk has been dodging the question for the past years and never gave a clear answer about it aside of "Umbrella" joke... Some astronomers are suggesting that with multiple space telecom companies ( US + EU + China ) it would potentially mean we would never be able to see space in plain sight ever. At least not without…

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite orbits decay rapidly thanks to atmospheric drag.

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

#74
post #55
post #50

I'm really concerned about the alarms raised by Scientific in regards to "Space Pollution".[0] Elon Musk has been dodging the question for the past years and never gave a clear answer about it aside of "Umbrella" joke... Some astronomers are suggesting that with multiple space telecom companies ( US + EU + China ) it would potentially mean we would never be able to see space in plain sight ever. At least not without…

SpaceX has put in a lot of effort to reduce the visual pollution aspect of starlink. See https://twitter.com/ralfvandebergh/status/136999054076322611... for how the visibility of Starlink sats has changed over time. For professional earth based astronomy, it is possible to remove the streaks digitally. But of course there is a slight impact. But what is the alternative? Just stop development of low earth orbit foreve…

We could be constantly lifting new observatories to space, launch is no longer the constraint, but satellite manufacturing and cost.

NASA needs the SpaceX equivalent of an org that churns out satellites. The next bus to orbit leaves shortly.

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

#75
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?

By pressuring Tesla. One thing making me nervous with Tesla's China business is that it will become too big for Tesla to let it fail, at which point Tesla (and every other Musk company) will be beholden to the CCP.

Maybe it will be moot since CCP might likely fund, steal, push for - whatever it takes - their own internal 'ip' & supply. Maybe batteries are difficult though.

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

#76
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, they had to apply for a license to do it, and it was granted.

by whom? the FCC. i live in switzerland, does USA own LEO?

It doesn't work like that, "owning" and human laws in general are kind of a fantasy, to make an absurd hypothetical scenario to illustrate this: imagine the aliens landed on Earth, would you say they should first get a permit to anchor their spaceship somewhere before doing that? At the end of the day words on paper don't matter much, if Switzerland shoots those satellites down they could be deleted from the world map with some nukes, who has the power decides.

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

#77
post #61
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?

Any major space power (Russia, China, India) will be able to dictate the conditions of Starlink operations. Basically: dear SpaceX, please switch off your sats over our territory, or we will do it for you.

talk about space debris - blowing up that many satellites would be insane.

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

#78
post #55
post #50

I'm really concerned about the alarms raised by Scientific in regards to "Space Pollution".[0] Elon Musk has been dodging the question for the past years and never gave a clear answer about it aside of "Umbrella" joke... Some astronomers are suggesting that with multiple space telecom companies ( US + EU + China ) it would potentially mean we would never be able to see space in plain sight ever. At least not without…

SpaceX has put in a lot of effort to reduce the visual pollution aspect of starlink. See https://twitter.com/ralfvandebergh/status/136999054076322611... for how the visibility of Starlink sats has changed over time. For professional earth based astronomy, it is possible to remove the streaks digitally. But of course there is a slight impact. But what is the alternative? Just stop development of low earth orbit foreve…

Maybe SpaceX should make it up to the scientific community by promising to (at no charge) put 100T of satellite telescopes in a high orbit every year once Starship is functional.

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

#79
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?

> Seems like there's an opportunity to produce an open-source SpaceX compatible antenna that someone could build themselves.

you'd need at least $400 of test equipment to check that the >$100 of parts were working right, and to diagnose any problems. not cost effective.

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

#80
post #13

Amazing times, when a private company can launch 3 flights in two weeks, not even counting the Starship tests :). It is faszinating to see, how quickly Starlink is progressing, we are on the brink of global satellite broadband internet. This could be a substantial change especially in all the countries without a wide broadband availability. It will be interesting to see whether SpaceX can generate enough revenue to b…

I agree I want to see Venus havoc mission. Floating a blimp in the atmosphere seems so cool
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