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Starlink is now on all seven continents, enabled by its space laser network

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Re: Starlink is now on all seven continents, enabled by its space laser network

#101

Post by samatman »

minhazm wrote: post #75
deelowe wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the plan, but it's an unimaginably difficult task. Many have speculated they wouldn't be able to pull it off at scale.

Forgive my ignorance but I don't understand why it's an unimaginably difficult task. The satellites are operating in a vacuum with no weather interference or anything and have line of sight to each other. I would think that it should actually be easy to pull off, and actually should get easier at scale since the distances between individual satellites would shrink and would be easier to align the laser links.

I see it as one of those enormously difficult and yet practical things, like photolithography. The human sweat to produce this system is surely measured in decades, if not centuries depending on whose effort we want to count.

Re: Starlink is now on all seven continents, enabled by its space laser network

#102

Post by gpm »

closewith wrote: post #93
gpm wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have directed energy weapons that could probably destroy individual satellites one at a time faster than they could be launched.

Who does? I think there's a [citation needed] for this claim.

China does.

The probably is there for a reason though, the exact extent of their capabilities is unclear.

Here's a citation: https://thediplomat.com/2022/06/chinas-directed-energy-weapo...

Re: Starlink is now on all seven continents, enabled by its space laser network

#103

Post by true_religion »

wcoenen wrote: post #92
gpm wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China has previously demonstrated anti-satellite weapons multiple times just to demonstrate they have them (and maybe make sure they work), I doubt they'd be that worried about the cost to demonstrate that they mean it and are willing to use them.

Russia has done the same demonstration last year [1]. And yet they have not destroyed starlink, even though SpaceX donated many dishes to Ukraine[2]. So there still seems to be some restraint around the concept of shooting down foreign satellites. I guess it's a "mutual assured destruction" type situation: once you shoot down a satellite, you'd better be prepared to lose your own. [1] https://www.nato.int/cps/en/nato…

Ukraine isn't Russian territory even though Russia would like to believe differently.

On the other hand, providing free media merely to subvert the people of main land China could be seen as a company over stepping it's bounds by far.

I will bet China would sanction anyone who dealt with Starlink.

Re: Starlink is now on all seven continents, enabled by its space laser network

#104

Post by tempie_deleteme »

hollander wrote: post #5

How about providing free internet to China and Russia, to give the people there proper information without government oversight?

what about providing 'proper' information without corporate oversight to people in the USA?

Re: Starlink is now on all seven continents, enabled by its space laser network

#105

Post by closewith »

gpm wrote: post #102
closewith wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who does? I think there's a [citation needed] for this claim.

China does. The probably is there for a reason though, the exact extent of their capabilities is unclear. Here's a citation: https://thediplomat.com/2022/06/chinas-directed-energy-weapo...

That's rumour, not a citation. Maybe I'm wrong and directed energy weapons can destroy thousands of satellites in LEO, but it's never been demonstrated by any nation.

Re: Starlink is now on all seven continents, enabled by its space laser network

#106

Post by Nextgrid »

MichaelCollins wrote: post #46
Nextgrid wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody is going to disclose & use anti-satellite technology over internet censorship. Hell, China isn't even aiming for bulletproof terrestrial censorship - they are happy with "good enough".

> Nobody is going to disclose & use anti-satellite technology over internet censorship. This constellation is plausibly if not probably duel-use technology. You can bet that China is planning ways to disable it if war breaks out.

If war breaks out is the key. They'd rather keep their ability to destroy it under wraps until it becomes a matter of national security. Disclosing it or using it prematurely over a benign issue such as internet censorship would be stupid.

Re: Starlink is now on all seven continents, enabled by its space laser network

#107

Post by count »

minhazm wrote: post #75
deelowe wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the plan, but it's an unimaginably difficult task. Many have speculated they wouldn't be able to pull it off at scale.

Forgive my ignorance but I don't understand why it's an unimaginably difficult task. The satellites are operating in a vacuum with no weather interference or anything and have line of sight to each other. I would think that it should actually be easy to pull off, and actually should get easier at scale since the distances between individual satellites would shrink and would be easier to align the laser links.

They're also moving in different, independent directions on different planes at extremely high speeds...

Re: Starlink is now on all seven continents, enabled by its space laser network

#109

Post by gpm »

closewith wrote: post #105
gpm wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China does. The probably is there for a reason though, the exact extent of their capabilities is unclear. Here's a citation: https://thediplomat.com/2022/06/chinas-directed-energy-weapo...

That's rumour, not a citation. Maybe I'm wrong and directed energy weapons can destroy thousands of satellites in LEO, but it's never been demonstrated by any nation.

It's a citation that they have them, which is all I claimed definitively. If I could cite the part of the statement after "probably", there wouldn't be a "probably" there.

I would not call it rumors. If you'd like a more authoritative citation, here is a DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency, i.e. US military) report cited in the article I cited above: https://www.dia.mil/Portals/110/Documents/News/Military_Powe...

Re: Starlink is now on all seven continents, enabled by its space laser network

#110

Post by capableweb »

Bubble_Pop_22 wrote: post #108
rpmisms wrote: post #13

Man, I love when sci-fi becomes reality. It's the cool things that get me excited for some parts of the future, and this is exactly that.

Quoted post unavailable.

> with very little to show for

Global internet coverage would be amazing, and definitely something I and many others would consider worth it. Not just for people to browse Twitter/TikTok/social media, but for access to things like Wikipedia and various other knowledge-bases, and communication protocols.

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