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Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

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Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#11

Post by omneity »

lupusreal wrote: post #8
wnevets wrote: post #5

[flagged]

Tired of these ignorant gripes from people who think they know better than the entire space industry because they ingested some popsci trash on reddit or youtube. If you actually knew anything you would know that LEO constellations are far less risky than the old school method of putting communication satellites in high orbits like GEO (where any accident means orbital debris which will effectively never decay.)

For the uninitiated, what this comment means is that LEO-orbiting payloads have a naturally limited lifespan as the orbit decays over time on its own causing the LEO satellites to get closer to earth and burn down to smithereens due to friction with the atmosphere.

This is why Starlink keeps launching new satellites on the regular. I believe theirs have a six years lifespan but don’t quote me on that.

Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#12

Post by wkat4242 »

lupusreal wrote: post #8
wnevets wrote: post #5

[flagged]

Tired of these ignorant gripes from people who think they know better than the entire space industry because they ingested some popsci trash on reddit or youtube. If you actually knew anything you would know that LEO constellations are far less risky than the old school method of putting communication satellites in high orbits like GEO (where any accident means orbital debris which will effectively never decay.)

The guy who thought of the Kessler syndrome was a respected scientist in the space community and he was specifically speaking of LEO. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome

I think there's worse effects though. Like the impact on astronomy.. SpaceX has done a few things to minimise the effect but there is still an effect.

The Kessler syndrome is a hypothetical phenomenon that could possibly occur under the wrong circumstances. But inference with astronomy is happening now.

Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#13

Post by timewizard »

deedubaya wrote: post #4

Why are these going up on ULA rockets and not Blue Origin?

New Shepard has limited payload delivery capacity. It's mostly for crew and experiments held in lockers in the crew compartment.

New Glenn has a 100,000lb to LEO payload capacity which makes it absurdly oversized for this mission.

Atlas V has a 18,000 to 42,000lb to LEO payload capacity. The variable solid rocket booster configuration really gives this platform the most flexibility for customer needs.

Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#15

Post by firesteelrain »

omneity wrote: post #11
lupusreal wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tired of these ignorant gripes from people who think they know better than the entire space industry because they ingested some popsci trash on reddit or youtube. If you actually knew anything you would know that LEO constellations are far less risky than the old school method of putting communication satellites in high orbits like GEO (where any accident means orbital debris which will effectively never decay.)

For the uninitiated, what this comment means is that LEO-orbiting payloads have a naturally limited lifespan as the orbit decays over time on its own causing the LEO satellites to get closer to earth and burn down to smithereens due to friction with the atmosphere. This is why Starlink keeps launching new satellites on the regular. I believe theirs have a six years lifespan but don’t quote me on that.

It also provides a bunch of real life experience for the company in launching rockets rather than being this rare occurrence they can iterate faster and fix problems as they go. Due to this, Falcon9 matured very quickly in my opinion

Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#16

Post by idontwantthis »

timewizard wrote: post #13
deedubaya wrote: post #4

Why are these going up on ULA rockets and not Blue Origin?

New Shepard has limited payload delivery capacity. It's mostly for crew and experiments held in lockers in the crew compartment. New Glenn has a 100,000lb to LEO payload capacity which makes it absurdly oversized for this mission. Atlas V has a 18,000 to 42,000lb to LEO payload capacity. The variable solid rocket booster configuration really gives this platform the most flexibility for customer needs.

New shepard has zero payload delivery capacity. It's suborbital.

Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#17

Post by breadwinner »

The world needs an alternative to Starlink yesterday.

If you criticize Musk on X, the self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” will reduce distribution of your posts [1].

We don't want someone like that owning critical internet infrastructure.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/23/business/elon...

Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#18

Post by threeseed »

breadwinner wrote: post #17

The world needs an alternative to Starlink yesterday. If you criticize Musk on X, the self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” will reduce distribution of your posts [1]. We don't want someone like that owning critical internet infrastructure. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/23/business/elon...

We have an alternative for 99% of the world and it’s fibre.

Which brings everyone the same speeds instead of perpetuating a digital divide between cities and rural areas. Which may not be bad now but once we start moving to ten and hundred gigabit plans, solutions like Starlink are going to resemble dialup.

Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#19

Post by timewizard »

idontwantthis wrote: post #16
timewizard wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

New Shepard has limited payload delivery capacity. It's mostly for crew and experiments held in lockers in the crew compartment. New Glenn has a 100,000lb to LEO payload capacity which makes it absurdly oversized for this mission. Atlas V has a 18,000 to 42,000lb to LEO payload capacity. The variable solid rocket booster configuration really gives this platform the most flexibility for customer needs.

New shepard has zero payload delivery capacity. It's suborbital.

As it's currently configured and unstaged. That does not mean the vehicle is completely incapable of delivering payloads to LEO.

Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#20

Post by robalpha »

threeseed wrote: post #18
breadwinner wrote: post #17

The world needs an alternative to Starlink yesterday. If you criticize Musk on X, the self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” will reduce distribution of your posts [1]. We don't want someone like that owning critical internet infrastructure. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/23/business/elon...

We have an alternative for 99% of the world and it’s fibre. Which brings everyone the same speeds instead of perpetuating a digital divide between cities and rural areas. Which may not be bad now but once we start moving to ten and hundred gigabit plans, solutions like Starlink are going to resemble dialup.

This makes zero sense. Fibre is not going to be economically viable in rural areas at all. If that's the only option, they won't have any internet at all. I also don't think we'll be moving to >10g plans anytime soon. Only a small portion of users have even close to 1g, and everyone else seems fine with it.
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