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SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

zdnet.com

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Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#541

Post by jraby3 »

daniel_iversen wrote: post #148

Surely it’ll be an issue some day for other space activities with all the SpaceX kit up there? I know space is very large :) but surely it’d be hard to scan, calculate and control trajectories of millions of orbiting tiny things when you’re launching rockets and things? A spacex satellite almost crashed into the Chinese space station some years ago and the Chinese had to perform an evasive manoeuvre I believe

Yes and I'll become another space industry. Cleanup. Sort of like how (coal/ocean/etc) pollution is both a problem and multi billion dollar a year industry.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#542

Post by ben_w »

ncruces wrote: post #487
mlindner wrote: post #458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're seeing "strings" those are recently launched satellites. Operational satellites are below visual magnitude.

They are not, especially after twilight, or before dawn.

Indeed. Compare https://arxiv.org/pdf/2502.03651 with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bortle_scale

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#544

Post by nerdsniper »

potamic wrote: post #406
dietr1ch wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'll be sad to know there's another mf trying to put a mirror to reflect sunlight near twilight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflect_Orbital

Wut? This has to be some sort of a scam. There's no way you're going to be reflecting enough light from hundreds of kilometers away.

It works fantastically well for construction and military applications.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#546

Post by shusaku »

shevy-java wrote: post #482
digitaltrees wrote: post #379

I have started to see what I think are star link satellites at night on walks with my kids. It actually makes me sad to see that on person owns the night sky and is changing the literal stars my kids will grow up with. It feels different when it’s the government that theoretically represents people but when it’s one person that feels truly depressing.

Agreed - I'd consider this public pollution caused by extremely greedy billionaires ruining the planet. They could only amass money because they did not care about social responsibilities prior to do so; any contrary statement made by them to this is only lies, lies and more lies. Unfortunately you need a government that cares for the whole; in the USA oligarchs rule, so the general public are treated as paying slave…

Blaming this on billionaires instead of “the whole” who are customers of space-x is asinine.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#548

Post by duskdozer »

foxglacier wrote: post #529
bayindirh wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a very reductionist and dismissive take. Also it’s rude. I’m an occasional astrophotographer, and the baseline of photos you can took are absolutely breathtaking now. Seeing this destroyed in real time is depressing. I used to see a rare flyby of a satellite in the complete dark, but now it’s much more, and besides my personal annoyance, many people much more serious about sky and space are rightfully angry. M…

It's not reductionist - planes and their vapor trails are a constant presence in the sky there and in many places. Far more obvious than even these 5-10x as many satellites will be. I'm sure there are cloud photographers who are bothered by plane but, as with Starlink, there are people getting good value from them. There are even photographers embracing them. I think you see the world how you're familiar with as good…

People are louder about things that have not yet taken hold because it's easier to stop them. The constant rumble of airplanes in the sky is a problem actually, but it's far more entrenched. Why is it difficult to understand that people notice and care about negative externalities of so-called "progress"?

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#549

Post by Fraterkes »

horns4lyfe wrote: post #257

I’m shocked by the number of people here thinking you won’t be able to see the night sky because of 100k satellites. Is this site getting dumber?

People are complaining about their views getting polluted, they’re not saying they literally can’t see the night sky. If you’d like hn comments to be smarter, consider starting with your own.
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