Here’s my bitter Luddite take on the whole debacle:
https://wyclif.substack.com/p/li-bai-and-the-abominable-prag...
Starlink Satellites Tracker
121–130 of 147 posts
Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#122Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#123Here’s my bitter Luddite take on the whole debacle: https://wyclif.substack.com/p/li-bai-and-the-abominable-prag...
Thanks for that, it was a welcome break from the endless fangirl mob of Space X threads
Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd guess it is more efficient to have them boost themselves, so that they act as an additional rocket stage. (and so not need the delta V to elevate and then de-elevate starship's orbit.)
There is certainly someone doing the optimization problem for the orbit insertion and fuel loads and picking the right set of tradeoffs.
The optimization problem also includes drag losses at the lower altitudes.
And those drag losses are a lot lower keeping all the satellites inside the rocket rather than having each experience its own drag.
Might be worth putting an ion drive on the f9 2nd stage for that reason...
Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#125Just tonight I was in the backyard with the kids when one one them yelled, “what’s that?”, pointing up. I immediately knew what it was, but just seeing that long string of satellites going by and going by and going by (it felt like it took 5 minutes for all of them to pass) was one of the most shocking things I’ve seen in the night sky (and I’ve seen some crazy stuff in my nearly 50 years). One thing I was a bit surprised about was how they weren’t as evenly spaced as I would have to expected. Most were in a straight line, but a few were a bit off from the others. Some were close together, leaving large gaps. Overall, I can see why the astronomers are worried.
Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#126I honestly can't believe Starlink is allowed to do this. It's an absolute travesty, polluting the view of the sky for ALL people on Earth to an absolutely unprecedented degree, for profit of an American corporation. Absolutely despise it, wish all countries of the world came together and demanded the deployments to stop.
I'm 100% with you on this. People don't seem to get it though.
Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
Absolutely! Things will be really interesting when they can use Starships to launch batches. I've seen estimates that they could launch 600 starlink satellites at a time. They could theatrically also launch fewer, but put them all the way into their final orbit, skipping the few weeks of light pollution.
Or they could do it theatrically and once in a while make the most sats possible as bright as possible for a pre announced one orbital period with good ground visibility in inhabitted areas. Would be quite a sight! :) They are getting a bit too good at reducing Starlink visibility lately so I could definitely welcome an event like that. :)
They could start doing shapes and messages. Throw in some colors. Maybe provide a service where you can get them to show a message of your choice.
Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#128Just tonight I was in the backyard with the kids when one one them yelled, “what’s that?”, pointing up. I immediately knew what it was, but just seeing that long string of satellites going by and going by and going by (it felt like it took 5 minutes for all of them to pass) was one of the most shocking things I’ve seen in the night sky (and I’ve seen some crazy stuff in my nearly 50 years). One thing I was a bit surp…
I guess you don't live on a flight path?
Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#129I honestly can't believe Starlink is allowed to do this. It's an absolute travesty, polluting the view of the sky for ALL people on Earth to an absolutely unprecedented degree, for profit of an American corporation. Absolutely despise it, wish all countries of the world came together and demanded the deployments to stop.
I'm 100% with you on this. People don't seem to get it though.
All of my comments on this topic are in massive negative numbers right now - I'm surprised HN is so protective of any criticism towards Starlink. Obviously I see the positive sides of it, for sure, but it's just weird to me that an American company does something that will affect every single person on the globe, in literally every corner of the Earth, and no one here goes "hang on, maybe.... don't?". Yeah internet is important but it's not like there aren't other solutions to this. And yes someone will reply immediately saying that they live 400 miles from the nearest town on top of a rock and they really can't get internet any other way. Like, ok, cool, but maybe putting 42k satellites into orbit to get you internet really isn't worth it to the 8 billion people on the planet.
Re: Starlink Satellites Tracker
#130It's interesting to see so many of these satellites are listed as "Bright" in my area. Before the launches, the HN crowd promised repeatedly that nobody would be able to see these satellites and they would not change the night sky at all, and that that looking up in wonder is only something that old people and luddites do, because nothing is more important than global always-on sacred holy internet access.
They are only bright for an initial period after launch.
While that's true, it's likely there's always going to be at least some trains that are visible even after full deployment as new satelites are launched to replace old ones
Starship will launch say 400 to LEO (rather than 60 as now), could it launch 100 to a higher orbit to reduce the impact? More starship launches (good for proving), and as the satelites deploy at a higher altitude they'll be darker