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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

#551

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.

You're not the only one: "Beyond the limit: Satellites and mirrors in space pose threat to the night sky" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48787042

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

#552
post #532
post #496

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if (this part specifically) is a solvable problem? Is it their altitude that causes them to shine? Perhaps finally a commercial use for Vantablack?

Their brightness is a mixture of a lot of things, including the huge PV arrays and the angle they have with the sun when they cross the terminator between night and day. Starlink have already put a lot of effort into their satellites being much less bright than most satellites, including tilting their PV away from earth during the terminator crossing, so from what I've read you'll mainly see them while they're being…

Would the “datacenter” satellites be much larger? I thought each of them was only going to carry a rack or a cabinet worth of GPUs?

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

#553
post #536

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> 'My kids had to see a power line going through the country side' A lot of people get upset about such things, even those are rather more important than just adding to the world's existing widespread internet access.

Wind turbines and solar farms is another one. It’s same people who whinge about crying babies on plane.

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

#554

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.

[flagged]

> you should be celebrating what Elon and his companies have achieved

The level of servility of some people never ceases to amaze me. This sentence is viscerally repulsive to me.

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

#555

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.

Why didn't governments try making it?

The US has tons of spy satellites, why not make some for the folks paying taxes? Why do we have to sell our firstborns (data) to Google for maps etc?

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

#556

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…

[dead]

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

#557
post #476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To anyone thinking that 18m² isn't that big for how large the space is, please recall how bright reflective things shine during the day when you hit the right angle.

18x18 is 324m^2

To give an easy visualization for most people (average Americans, really, because most other people in the world already know what a meter looks like), imagine that the average doorknob is about 1m above the floor, so imagine basically the bottom part of a typical interior door is about 1m sq. Now, make a square out of 18 of those pieces wide by 18 pieces high.

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

#558

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.

Why didn't governments try making it? The US has tons of spy satellites, why not make some for the folks paying taxes? Why do we have to sell our firstborns (data) to Google for maps etc?

Can't speak to the world as a whole but the US has we spent 50 years gutting most government functions that aren't part of the police/military/surveillance apparatus (and many of those as well). SpaceX itself is an example of the primary mechanism of this: Diverting funding to private, no-bid contracts that remove both market forces and democratic oversight from those services while also ballooning their costs

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

#559
post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Populations are far below replacement. Degrowth is assured.

Populations may drop, but why would you want quality of life to remain constant?
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