I think there would be a Kessler Syndrome within a few weeks of an anti-satellite campaign at which point trying to launch replacements wouldn't make any sense.
Space industry lacks workers needed to rebuild satellites lost in war: report
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Re: Space industry lacks workers needed to rebuild satellites lost in war: report
#12I think there would be a Kessler Syndrome within a few weeks of an anti-satellite campaign at which point trying to launch replacements wouldn't make any sense.
No, there wouldn’t be. Space is huge. There aren’t that many satellites, and even the largest are relatively small.
Re: Space industry lacks workers needed to rebuild satellites lost in war: report
#13To paraphrase patio11, a disagreement between you and the market is not a shortage. I'm surprised that anyone still believes the perennial "labor shortage" complaints. It has always been about employers refusing to improve wages and working conditions.
Shortages can't be defined out of existence this way. Markets don't magically train workers or provide security clearances. People have to do that.
Re: Space industry lacks workers needed to rebuild satellites lost in war: report
#14I think there would be a Kessler Syndrome within a few weeks of an anti-satellite campaign at which point trying to launch replacements wouldn't make any sense.
No, there wouldn’t be. Space is huge. There aren’t that many satellites, and even the largest are relatively small.
I presume "anti-satellite campaign" means hundreds of anti-satellite missiles launched into LEO / MEO, at which point we do have a serious problem
Re: Space industry lacks workers needed to rebuild satellites lost in war: report
#15You could say the same thing about any military hardware during a peace-time economy. It’s not a matter if it exists, it’s a matter if the relevant knowledge exists in domestic/friendly industrial base. The U.S. is making more satellites than the rest of the world combined right now.
Re: Space industry lacks workers needed to rebuild satellites lost in war: report
#16All the stated problems are just problems in peacetime; Pay and bureaucratic red tape.
We no longer have the culture, the expertise, or the infrastructure to do these things. They moved it all overseas and to Mexico to save a quick buck. America is dead.
I have to disagree Newport, RI. is a hot bed for this kind of development and I’m sure there are other places not mentioned on HN.
Here is a trade school that is actively training the needed workforce.
Re: Space industry lacks workers needed to rebuild satellites lost in war: report
#17All the stated problems are just problems in peacetime; Pay and bureaucratic red tape.
We no longer have the culture, the expertise, or the infrastructure to do these things. They moved it all overseas and to Mexico to save a quick buck. America is dead.
SpaceX has >11,000 satellites whipping around the planet. They increased the number of LEO sats by nearly one order of magnitude in bit more than 5 years.
So apparently, in the US, the culture, expertise and infrastructure do exist to do these things.
Re: Space industry lacks workers needed to rebuild satellites lost in war: report
#18You could say the same thing about any military hardware during a peace-time economy. It’s not a matter if it exists, it’s a matter if the relevant knowledge exists in domestic/friendly industrial base. The U.S. is making more satellites than the rest of the world combined right now.
It is also a question of spin up time. If the demand suddenly existed to rebuild satellites en masse, the lead time on labor resources is part of the total time to rebuild. It becomes concerning if and only if either a) for strategic reasons the time is inadequate, or b) the lead time requires generational training efforts, e.g. college programs, national initiatives, etc. which can't behave predictably in response to an emergency.
Re: Space industry lacks workers needed to rebuild satellites lost in war: report
#19I mean, if we have a war with Russia that involves destroying satellites, it seems like there is a pretty big chance that means it's going nuclear and we'll have bigger fish to fry.
I think the point is that there are scenarios where large powers would disable/destroy each other's satellites without using nuclear weapons and we would be poorly prepared to replace them.
I think your parent commenter's point is that the satellites are used to detect launches. No satellites == no early warning == temptation to launch preemptively.
Re: Space industry lacks workers needed to rebuild satellites lost in war: report
#20I think there would be a Kessler Syndrome within a few weeks of an anti-satellite campaign at which point trying to launch replacements wouldn't make any sense.
No, there wouldn’t be. Space is huge. There aren’t that many satellites, and even the largest are relatively small.
They are small until they are blown into a million pieces.