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

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861–870 of 1001 posts

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

#861
There is an accounting explanation for this (boring as it sounds). Stock analysts (who don’t want to use their brains too much) often use “EBITDA” (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) to compare companies. The reasoning is that those items can often be used in “creative” ways to make a company look better than it is so strip them out before comparing.

Starlink sats are launched into a decaying orbit so after something like 5 years they burn up and need to be replaced. It is very flattering to SpaceX’s financials to launch lots of satellites if you look at it from an EBITDA point of view because it basically looks like they have a lot of recurring earnings even though 20% per year has to be amortized because it burns up in the atmosphere.

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

#862

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I love seeing artificial objects in space, Kind of fucked up lol > rather than someone who is starting wars to profit from insider trading... Your moral and ethical bar is Trump?

Do you like looking at city skylines? I'm not a misanthrope so I like seeing humanity's progress.

I do happen to be a misanthrope, but I suspect a lot of people who aren't also have distaste for your expression of joy at seeing the night sky full of satellites.

I do like big cities and their skylines though, sure.

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

#863
post #854
post #851

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple announced AirPower and then didn’t end up shipping it. In a “functioning economy” should Tim Cook be indicted for misleading investors? Obviously not. The only decent argument for the criminal case you are talking about would be if it was an outright lie with no intent whatsoever to deliver on the promise, but there’s obviously a huge effort to deliver on the robotaxi promise. Just ask any of the thousands of e…

As the comment you are replying to does not, on its face, seem to have a political bia you should be explicit about where/how you identified that bias. Without this you are the one injecting politics not the OP.

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

#864

Last time I checked, you couldn't get a public IPv4 through Starlink, let alone a fixed one. This makes it a non-starter as a backup link for self-hosters, a use case it is well suited for.

They do supply public IPv4 but only to the more expensive plans. https://starlink.com/support/article/1192f3ef-2a17-31d9-261a...

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

#866

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.

> It feels different when it’s the government that theoretically represents people but when it’s one person that feels truly depressing. I worked on technology for years that the FCC effectively killed for stupid reasons. So it’s heartening to me that someone can still just do stuff and build things. It’s amazing. If you asked me 10 years ago I would have thought that getting something like Starlink off the ground wo…

You might have thought they were stupid reasons but protecting a public good is a very important and challenging task. Unlike the FCC, spaceX isn’t accountable to democratic forces and can do antisocial things with the shared resource and there will be little we can do about it.

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

#867

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.

Change is inevitable. I love seeing artificial objects in space, because it shows that we, humanity, are finally getting there. Elon doesn't own space, he just happens to be the one who is currently best at making it reachable. There is plenty of space for everyone else, and others will get there, eventually. I could eat myself up with envy over the money he's making from it... or be glad that it's at least someone g…

I didn’t say I am against change. I said I am against one man owning a monopoly on a common good.

If technological progress requires monopolies and the road toward serfdom is that really a path we want?

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

#868
post #851
post #835

SpaceX needs to claim there’s a need for 100k more satellites to prop up unreasonable valuations. This is no different than Elon claiming Tesla owners would be renting out their cars as FSD taxis while at work (next year, we swear guys!!!) In a functioning economy he’d have faced criminal charges for knowingly misleading investors and customers about a dozen times over by now. It’s one thing to set lofty goals intern…

Apple announced AirPower and then didn’t end up shipping it. In a “functioning economy” should Tim Cook be indicted for misleading investors? Obviously not. The only decent argument for the criminal case you are talking about would be if it was an outright lie with no intent whatsoever to deliver on the promise, but there’s obviously a huge effort to deliver on the robotaxi promise. Just ask any of the thousands of e…

AirPower would've been a fraction of a fraction of a single percentage point of Apple's accessory sales

Apple is facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit over Siri features it promised, that it would not charge for or make money off of, but didn't deliver

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

#869

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Change is inevitable. I love seeing artificial objects in space, because it shows that we, humanity, are finally getting there. Elon doesn't own space, he just happens to be the one who is currently best at making it reachable. There is plenty of space for everyone else, and others will get there, eventually. I could eat myself up with envy over the money he's making from it... or be glad that it's at least someone g…

No, this is not really moving forward, it's just a traffic jam and pollution in an otherwise pristine space - for money. It's just the money. If we were actually going to Mars, then yes, but somehow he made himself the 'First Trillionaire' - without even so much as getting out of Earth's orbit. This is NFT progress, in that, there is some plausible economic value in NFTs, but in reality, it's just a hustle.

hey mom wants you to get off the couch and come for dinner, meatloaf is ready

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

#870

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For war it is. Drones and other unmanned aircraft are the future of warfare. That's the whole reason why every country now heavily invests in low orbit sats. It's not about consumers. Also not for spacex. Defence contracts are zillion times more worth. Once you are in you reach the end level as a business.

Didn't we just see that wired drones are the current peak over wireless, and Russia is at this moment jamming satellite drone control...

Russia has attempted to jam Starlink satellites but with very limited success. The problem for Russia is that the constellation is enormous and uses highly directional phased-array radios which are naturally resistant to jamming. They can temporarily jam a few birds over a limited area but don't have the resources to effect sustained denial. We might eventually see them escalate to kinetic strikes on the satellites.
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