Soon only the super rich will have sunlight, with satellite networks blocking out the sky in other areas.
Come on, why the down votes? This was legitimately amusing.
Starlink Satellites Tracker
71–80 of 147 posts
Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Basically, the constellation's effect on the night sky is proportional to the number of launches in the last month, not the total number in orbit. For what it's worth, in order for the constellation to reach steady state the number of launches in the last month will need to be proportional to the total # of orbit. So if the constellation has 42,000 satellites and the satellites last 10 years on average (IMO that's a…
By that time they'll also have a launch vehicle capable of launching around 300 satellites in a single launch. Additionally, 42,000 was a worst case for the number needed and only if things go exceedingly well with the service. I think people quote that number too much when in reality there's likely to be under 5000 (from SpaceX at least).
I think number of launches was used as a proxy for number of satellites launched in the last month - more satellites/launch shouldn't impact it that much.
Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#73While I won't subscribe (I have fiber), I am excited about what this might mean for the future. It would amazing to improve the technology enough to replace 4G/5G dongles. It sounds like the technology relies on being in a somewhat fixed position though.
Starlink will never replace 4G/5G in relatively-populated areas, because any RF wizardry they can do from orbit will work even better for talking to a tower at short range.
Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
But Starlink isn't, wasn't, and never will be "for providing internet to poorer countries". It's always going to be first and foremost about selling internet to people in wealthy countries in areas without good local internet options. Are we really pretending that people in "poor countries" can afford the cost of the equipment and the subscription? Or that Elon Musk is doing this as some kind of charity? The main pro…
>It's always going to be first and foremost about selling internet to people in wealthy countries in areas without good local internet options. [citation needed]
What exactly do you need a citation for? The starlink antenna is a $499, and the subscription is $99 a month. That's extremely expensive for internet, I'd only consider this if there was literally nothing else available. So yes, it will be bought by wealthy people who live out in the sticks, because if you're not from a wealthy nation and quite comfortable financially yourself, then $99/month is crazy high. I guess communities in poorer countries might pool together and buy one antenna+subscription to share between themselves, but that cannot be the main market for this service.
Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#75While I won't subscribe (I have fiber), I am excited about what this might mean for the future. It would amazing to improve the technology enough to replace 4G/5G dongles. It sounds like the technology relies on being in a somewhat fixed position though.
One obvious synergy that comes to mind (if the base stations won't have to be geographically fixed) is to stream raw video from all cameras from all Teslas.
Both for sentry mode (antitheft) and autonomy training.
Of course it would be regulatory nightmare.
Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
But Starlink isn't, wasn't, and never will be "for providing internet to poorer countries". It's always going to be first and foremost about selling internet to people in wealthy countries in areas without good local internet options. Are we really pretending that people in "poor countries" can afford the cost of the equipment and the subscription? Or that Elon Musk is doing this as some kind of charity? The main pro…
> selling internet to people in wealthy countries in areas without good local internet options Even if I grant you that it's not going to be about supplying internet to poorer countries, this reason alone is sufficient. Depriving rural communities of internet over such a small negative externality is a non-starter. > literally no one else except for Americans has any say in it Poland emits significant amounts of carb…
Well, you make some good points, but obviously there has to be a line somewhere, right? GPS and Weather sattelites are very different because of their positioning in space and there's far fewer of them. It's just the sheer scale of Starlink that's concerning - 42k satellites in maximum configuration!
So of course it isn't about not allowing any global externalities - but this one feels incredibly lopsided. GPS benefits everyone, at a very low externality cost. Starlink benefits the lucky wealthy few(and I am talking about the subscribers here, not just the owners), at an absolutely huge externality cost. Is it worth it? You say that it is, I don't - I don't know where the line is here, but I don't think it's where Elon Musk thinks it is.
Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#77text output? where's the AR viewer of starlink overlayed on the sky!?
Not Google Glass level AR, but this is posted upthread:
Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#78Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Easy to say when you're probably sitting in a rich city somewhere with a perfectly good internet connection
Starlink is polluting the sky for people who cannot buy its services, and who don't appreciate yet another American corporation invading into their lives, this time taking the very view of the night sky.
It's pretty hard to be upset about a trivial amount of light pollution which WILL improve lives all over the world... when there are gigatons of literal actual pollution invading the water and skies of the same countries, and barely anyone is making a real effort to fix it.
It's really, really hard for me to believe that these attacks on Starlink are truly proportional to the perceived harm. I think that 95% of the upset is directed at SpaceX as a proxy vendetta against Musk, billionaires, or the overall tech industry.
Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#80Satellites (or rather low earth orbit) should be like a well kept house: "One thing in, two things out". But no, let's just not look at history and learn anything at all from things like pollution etc. and let the richest countries make a mess of everything until they see it's a problem and then they (we) will point fingers at poorer countries when they want to launch satellites en mass too.
Clean up the damn lawn!