Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Elon says we should see 300mbps soon and less than 20ms ping (iirc). Mini rant: Can we stop calling that guy by his first name as if you were his acquaintance?
Mini rant: Sincerely, who cares? Musk just has a weird mouth feel (has the same strange feeling like saying "Moist", to me), Elon just flows of the tongue better, (both literally and metaphorically in the "thought voice" sense), and also is rather unique (unlike Jack, Tim, Mark or Jeff, Elon is a far less common name) if it gets the point across, why quibble over such minor details? Also, on a seperate point, Elon ha…
SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks
321–330 of 343 posts
Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks
#322Earlier quoted context omitted.
Probably about half a suburban town’s worth of iPhones.
But all the components of an iPhone can technically be recycled to one degree or another (even if they aren't at present). Once a satellite has been incinerated, that's it. And there will be thousands of these, and several providers. That's thousands and thousands of pounds of material disappearing for good, every year.
1. very little rare earth materials are actually used. 80%+ are in magnets / motors, a good chunk in screens and sensors
2. solar panels might have cadmium/silver which despite the name are not rare at all
440g is the average amount used in a modern car. Let’s extrapolate to 1Kg for a satellite. Earth has an estimated 120 million metric tons of rare earth deposits. If you start burning ten thousand of those satellites every year, it will take twelve million years to go through the stock.
Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks
#323Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mini rant: Sincerely, who cares? Musk just has a weird mouth feel (has the same strange feeling like saying "Moist", to me), Elon just flows of the tongue better, (both literally and metaphorically in the "thought voice" sense), and also is rather unique (unlike Jack, Tim, Mark or Jeff, Elon is a far less common name) if it gets the point across, why quibble over such minor details? Also, on a seperate point, Elon ha…
Perhaps refer to SpaceX rather than Elon?
Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks
#324Earlier quoted context omitted.
They won't.. It's a product that's only remotely viable in remote locations. So Australia, Canada and US. Most of the rest of the world has no need for it
Seriously? Unless Europe is "most of the world", I think you're quite mistaken. Join me in rural Brazil, for example!
Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks
#325Earlier quoted context omitted.
Did you sign up for the $99 deposit which puts you in the queue?
Yep, did so the day I was able to. I was pretty bummed not to get into the beta, especially after torturing myself by periodically checking /r/Starlink which was just wall-to-wall posts of people celebrating their invites. Just glad to have a spot in line at this point.
Very eager to ditch my patchwork of expensive cellular and traditional satellite.
Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks
#326Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wouldn't be surprised that the Starlink dish can melt snow. It's literally an antenna that shoots high energy microwaves into space over many hours. 100W of microwaves according to another comment here. By contrast your microwave oven might emitting 800W for a few minutes. Unlike the few watts of a Wifi router or phone, it emits high power electromagnetic radiation. It's definitely something you attach to your roof…
> It's definitely something you attach to your roof and pointed at the sky, not something you want to be sitting in front of for hours. I could say the same thing about a light bulb, couldn't I? It heats your skin slowly, and it can't get far enough into your eyes to hurt your retina or anything.
Microwaves penetrate your skin and even your skull. It's heating your brain like cooking food in a microwave. Yes, it's non-ionizing, but there's a relationship between heating, inflammation and cancer. And it's wrong to ignore it.
Just take simple precautions like not sitting right in front of a 100W space antenna, but instead mount it on your roof.
Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks
#327Worth also pointing out: That's the 9th flight of Booster 1051. And it had a perfect landing. The goal of this design of Falcon 9 is to handle 10 flights with minimum refurbishment. Right now, it looks like they're within a couple months of achieving that goal for the first time, with booster 1049 close as well, at 8 flights. SpaceX is soon going to reach a point that they don't need to build more Falcon 9 boosters.
They have occasional landing failures (one this year, two last year), and still do launch expendably every once in a blue moon, so they'll likely need to build a new one every once in a while until the end of the program is in sight. (It looks like they have very few customers anymore that insist on a new-build booster -- the fussiest had been the US government, but at this point, NASA is accepting reused boosters fo…
https://spacenews.com/iridium-open-to-reused-falcon-9s-if-it...
Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks
#328Earlier quoted context omitted.
Many of these ISPs are shitty because they service the hardest to reach places. Comcast and Verizon have gobbled up billions in government aid to bring service to rural areas and end up delivering only to fringe areas which they can reach easily. The small companies end up struggling to get the government cash and end up underfunded providing service to the absolute-most difficult to reach consumers. It's a real crap…
I guess as a customer I don’t really care why they suck, I just know that they do. I also don’t care about small business if they provide bad service. From a policy standpoint as a citizen - I think it’s terrible the telecom monopolies took public money and did nothing, but I think they’ll start feeling competitive pressure from Starlink too, hopefully this will force them to adapt or die (I don’t really care which).…
I guess it depends on what you mean by bad service. If by "Bad service" you mean don't return calls when your service is down, then I agree. If you are referring to bandwidth or latency, you are likely getting the best they can afford to give you for the price. It's the price you pay for living in the sticks. (I suffered with crap small ISP "high speed" internet for years so I sympathize).
I'm not suggesting anyone should stick with an inferior product to bolster small business. Their run at being internet providers is coming to an end.
Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks
#329Starlink is SpaceX's way of guaranteeing SpaceX has a launch client. It increases the number of launches they make, and drives down the cost per launch, both for themselves and for their other customers. They are creating a business model which is both profitable and drives profits to their launch business. This is similar to the synergy Amazon's online store and AWS have with each other. If SpaceX has room on a laun…
Unfortunately it's also littering the sky with a shitload of eventual junk, and immediate astronomical blight.
They are a headache for astronomers. Its debatable which is the bigger public good.
Re: SpaceX delivers 3rd batch of Starlink satellites in two weeks
#330Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
That likelihood has a silver lining: it will be accelerating the transition away from fossil fuel-powered cars.