Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–209 of 209 posts

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

#201

Post by derefr »

gpm wrote: post #169
derefr wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean to say that the USAF can use devices that cause arbitrary interference on frequency bands that the country they're operating in hasn't reserved for such uses, and said countries tolerate that? Those countries' poor radio engineers...

Uh, yes. The USAF uses electronic warfare systems that don't just accidentally cause such interference, but do so intentionally. Much like every other major military. Which isn't to say that they would operate those systems (or starlink) in peacetime without the approval of the host country, just that they can use those systems at any time... While I don't know for a fact that SpaceX has left the decision on where to…

I was referring more to countries that host US military bases / allow USAF flyover in peacetime, and which aren't currently considered Starlink-enabled. The Philippines, for example.

> Which isn't to say that they would operate those systems (or starlink) in peacetime without the approval of the host country

To the original point, Starlink wouldn't be claiming that "Starlink is now on all seven continents" unless somebody (e.g. the USAF) was at least conducting connectivity tests in these countries, if not putting Starlink into active use — which would, again, be much to the chagrin of local RF engineers, who had.

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

#202

Post by gravypod »

aaronax wrote: post #100
dakr wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a 300 degree club at the south pole. Strip, jump in 200 degF water, then run outside around the building where it's -100 degF.

I was skeptical that 200F water would not cause almost immediate damage. Turns out this challenge involves a 200F sauna, so 200F air, not water.

The people who I have met, who have participated, are very interesting people. Very interesting stories from amazing engineers.

Edit: I don't know if these two participated but I knew them from the NJIT CSTR. Some of the smartest people I met who were basically volunteering just so they could get flown down every year: https://youtu.be/ciqAZSoOmr8?t=676. Gil was just getting through some back surgery at this point, was in massive pain, and still flew out that year if memory serves me correct.

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

#203

Post by roflyear »

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.

Lasers don't need an atmosphere to make them difficult to shoot over distances either.

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

#204

Post by ashwagary »

derefr wrote: post #201
gpm wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, yes. The USAF uses electronic warfare systems that don't just accidentally cause such interference, but do so intentionally. Much like every other major military. Which isn't to say that they would operate those systems (or starlink) in peacetime without the approval of the host country, just that they can use those systems at any time... While I don't know for a fact that SpaceX has left the decision on where to…

I was referring more to countries that host US military bases / allow USAF flyover in peacetime, and which aren't currently considered Starlink-enabled. The Philippines, for example. > Which isn't to say that they would operate those systems (or starlink) in peacetime without the approval of the host country To the original point, Starlink wouldn't be claiming that "Starlink is now on all seven continents" unless som…

>>Starlink wouldn't be claiming that "Starlink is now on all seven continents" unless somebody (e.g. the USAF) was at least conducting connectivity tests in these countries, if not putting Starlink into active use

Elon's history of marketing says otherwise.

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

#205

Post by capableweb »

gamegoblin wrote: post #146
capableweb wrote: post #50

According to their coverage map ( https://www.starlink.com/map ) there is no coverage in Africa nor Asia, unless I'm missing something obvious. Or if there are new continents I'm not aware of.

The SpaceX tweet says "Starlink is now on all seven continents", not "Starlink is commercially available for general use on all seven continents". Non-commercial users such as the US military are using it on bases, ships, and aircraft worldwide. Antarctica is notably a continent without US military bases, so the "on all seven continents" claim was not complete until these scientists got a hold of a dish.

Yeah, I get that it could mean a lot of things. I guess it smells kind of funny as they imply that you can use it in seven continents, while maybe it's just their coverage is available in seven continents, but you can't actually contract it.

Would be a bit like saying McDonalds is on all seven continents since mcdonalds.com is reachable on all seven continents, but then you cannot actually order McDonalds at Antarctica so it smells a bit like misleading marketing.

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

#206

Post by panick21_ »

wsinks wrote: post #111
TheCowboy wrote: post #28

[Deleted]

Totally agree. Not sure I care about Starlink. Chatted once on a Webex with Chris Hadfield about 6-12 months ago, who said that the service was somewhat better and more reliable than his current satellite connection, but also that it wasn't necessarily good enough for a change in mindset. He knew that sometimes he wouldn't have good enough connection for video calls out there, and that was ok by him. I don't think he…

> who said that the service was somewhat better and more reliable than his current satellite connection, but also that it wasn't necessarily good enough

A beta product isn't perfect, more news at 11.

SpaceX has extensively worked with astronomers, including having a working group that meets weekly, presenting at conferences, doing multiple iterations of design changes and so on.

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

#207

Post by voxadam »

rcarr wrote: post #181
benj111 wrote: post #15

SPACE LASERS!!! Sorry. The inner child in me got far too excited by this.

I read the title and couldn't help but hear it as something Steve Carrell would exclaim really loudly in some sitcom.

"Boots on the Moon!"

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

#208

Post by smachiz »

closewith wrote: post #18
cududa wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know both Russia and China are perfectly capable of targeting and destroying satellites, yes?

Neither could destroy SpaceX satellites as fast as they can be launched. No State can. The issue would be whether they could cause enough damage to make the orbital plane (temporarily) unusable.

They could absolutely destroy them fast enough. The also only need to destroy them fast enough that SpaceX finds it economically infeasible to continue launching them or blocking them themselves.

I also think that both countries could launch geosync satellites or using existing geosync satellites to just generate a shitton of noise on whatever spectrum Starlink would use.

Starlink of course won't get a license for spectrum in either country.

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

#209

Post by closewith »

smachiz wrote: post #208
closewith wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neither could destroy SpaceX satellites as fast as they can be launched. No State can. The issue would be whether they could cause enough damage to make the orbital plane (temporarily) unusable.

They could absolutely destroy them fast enough. The also only need to destroy them fast enough that SpaceX finds it economically infeasible to continue launching them or blocking them themselves. I also think that both countries could launch geosync satellites or using existing geosync satellites to just generate a shitton of noise on whatever spectrum Starlink would use. Starlink of course won't get a license for sp…

What mechanism do you believe they could use to destroy the hundred of satellites necessary to destroy the constellation?
Post reply on HN